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OhUt to the remote islands of Tierra del Fuego in ChileToto Gesell is still working on a job that started a long time ago: prospecting for gold. Every day, rain or shine, he puts on his rubber boots and goes to the local river, where he searches for gold spots the old way: with a pan, a shovel and a homemade sluice. Her daily activities are lovingly documented in Alfredo Pourailly De La Plaza’s captivating documentary, which was recorded over nearly a decade. The camera often rests on Toto’s wrinkled hands, as he carefully handles small pieces of precious metal, or writes his hopes and dreams in a well-kept notebook. Although he is content with this simple life, his body is strained by the hard work of doing heavy work.
When Jorge, Toto’s troubled son, decides to make a trommel from scratch to help his father’s work, the film takes on a more ambitious nature. This huge task can take years; Through riveting transitions, the text passes between two contradictory periods: one of the slow completion of the trommel, and the other of Toto’s declining health, as the juxtapositions show the urgency of Jorge’s work. When Toto has a serious health problem while investigating, the need for time feels like gold dust slipping through his fingers.
At times, the film shifts its focus away from these intimate, domestic moments to capture the beauty of Tierra del Fuego’s landscape. And finally, the trommel represents not only filial worship, but also the love of the whole community. Filled with detail, De La Plaza’s writings also double as visuals; Amidst green fields of grass and snow-capped mountain peaks, the filmmaker has found gold again.
