Xan Brooks 

The Great Movement review – compellingly strange Bolivian drama

A former miner uncovers dangerous magic in the hidden corners of La Paz
  
  

The Great Movement
The Great Movement. Photograph: Altamar Films

Hang a hard left past the multiplex and you’ll eventually arrive at The Great Movement, a walk on the wild side, a film to get lost in. Trailing a sickly former miner (Julio Cézar Ticona) around the streets of La Paz, Bolivian writer-director Kiro Russo tosses out conventional narrative in favour of a kind of ongoing social-realist fugue. He wafts us around the wrecking yards and the market stalls and uncovers dangerous magic in the city’s hidden corners.

While the result won’t be to all tastes, you can’t fault its ambition. Russo’s picture is harsh and compelling, weightless and strange; the filmic equivalent of a bottle of smoke.

Watch a trailer for The Great Movement.
 

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