La Sierra

A

Directed by Margarita Martinez and Scott Dalton

Scott Dalton and Margarita Martinez's gangland docu-drama "La Sierra" is one of the few films I've ever seen that has left me slack jawed for its entire duration. Dalton and Martinez's exposé of gang life in the insanely violent La Sierra neighborhood during the peak of Columbia's civil conflict of the late 1990's is an almost unbelievably up close and personal look at senseless, poverty fueled violence in one of South America's most dangerous areas.

Dalton and Martinez begin by introducing the viewer to three teenagers living in La Sierra. Edison, the leader of a paramillitary outfit in Medellin called the Bloque Metro, is 22 years old but has already fathered six children with six different girls, all of whom are under the age of 18. Jesus, one of Edison's soldiers in the Bloque Metro, accidentally blew off his left hand making a homemade grenade. He is also the father of a young child and a habitual drug user. Celia, a 15 year old girl with a baby of her own and a paramilitary boyfriend serving a jail sentence, is already the widow of a youngster who died in the civil violence. Dalton and Martinez follow the three as they attempt to navigate the shoppy waters of parenthood and, in the case of Jesus and Edison, not get killed.

"La Sierra" exposes the viewer to violence of a nature so senseless and heartbreaking it's hard to watch. Jesus and Edison, both little more than boys, walk around the barrio toting guns, shooting at their rivals and pontificating about the brevity of life and their likelihood of succumbing to a violent death. A shop owner at the beginning of the film summarizes the city's problems by saying that they are being ruled by "kids with guns." The question Dalton and Martinez's film raises, however, is why the kids of Medellin feel the need to engage in armed, pointless warfare and systematically wipe each other out. In their interviews with Edison and Jesus, Dalton and Martinez show that violence is mostly a way that disenfranchised, desperately poor youth can feel some form of accomplishment and power in a society that offers little hope for social mobility or comfort. Edison and Jesus both appear content to enjoy the fruits of their violent lifestyles in the present rather than actually living to see the future.
The danger Martinez and Dalton put themselves in to film "La Sierra" is nothing short of breathtaking. They tag along with Jesus and his fellow paras on a nighttime patrol only to be ambushed by a rival gang and sprayed with gunfire. Dalton keeps the camera rolling as he runs behind a building and hides in the bushes as bullets fly by. In another instance they crouch down behind a rundown building as Edison sprays a rival's home with automatic gunfire. Dalton and Martinez's fearlessness in capturing the violence and grittiness of their subject's lives makes "La Sierra" an emotionally gripping, heart wrenching work with a visceral emotional impact.