Updates, Live: All That Glitters (Czech Republic / Kyrgyzstan, 2010)

Tomáš Kudrna, director of All That Glitters
(http://www.dokweb.net/en/documentary-network/professionals/kudrna-tomas-4496/?fromView=esFinishedDetail&fromId=3318&fromUrl=+All+That+Glitters)
no copyright infringement intended

In the ex-Soviet Central-Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, the transition from socialism to capitalism has been a chaotic process. Many things of every-day life seem apparently unchanged. People are still afraid to speak their minds. They carefully avoid questions sounding too political, especially when they come from foreigners. They are still waiting for help and orders from Big Brother, except that Big Brother is no longer the omniscient Russian Tsar. Nowadays, he can take any form, including that of a multinational corporation headquartered overseas, attracted by the local resources, and eventually persuaded to invest for the welfare of the local community. Director Tomáš Kudrna makes a thorough and honest picture of a case that is likely to look familiar to the audience in Romania and elsewhere. He manages to surpass clichés and stereotypical stories about Westerners exploiting Third World countries, unveiling an intricate network of economical and political interdependencies, while giving little if no attention to collateral casualties. Even if the film seems to focus on the Kyrgyz society only, there is a universal meaning about it when it comes to the games of power and the conflicts of interests.

(http://cinepolitica.ro/film/26#Statement)

The protagonists of the film live and work in Kyrgyzstan, a post-Soviet republic in Central Asia. The population is primarily Muslim and traditionally nomadic. After being part of the Soviet Union for most of the 20th century, the people suddenly find themselves in a new democratic state where they have the freedom to make their own decisions. The film is focused on four main protagonists whose lives are tied to a massive gold mine operated by the Canadian company Kumtor. Each character represents some part of the imperfect transition from communism to capitalism in the 21st century. The central character is a Kyrgyz truck driver named Nurbek - an ordinary man entangled in the complexities of the storyline. We meet the American boss, the head of the mining company who has come to Kyrgyzstan to check on the progress of the mine. Kerim, the spokesman for the company, handles public relations and has the power to fire workers

.(Armada Films)

A documentary presented at Bucharest Cinepolitica Festival, and it's a pity it will remain virtually unknown for the Romanian public at large, as it tackles an issue of extreme importance for the civil society here. It's a Rosia Montana case from another former socialist country. It's not only about a foreign capitalist company and a group of local compradores (plus a sympathetic echo-friendly doctor), the number of actors is significantly larger, each one with valid arguments, each one with hidden skeletons. Some keep in their closet a fear deeply learned in old Soviet times, mixed with nostalgia, some others learned in those years how to manage people through fear, and this knowledge is also mixed with nostalgia, some learned how to expect everything or to steal from the Big Brother, be it Soviet Power or Multinational Company, and here also it's nostalgia in the picture - skeletons are of various kinds. And All That Glitters is a superb documentary, relentless while honest: the camera is exploring ruthlessly the facts, while the movie doesn't take sides, leaving to us the judgment.