No more Saleros? Documentary explores changing times in Bolivia’s salt flat
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“Salero,” a tale of struggle between traditional and modernizing Latin America set in the salt flats of Bolivia, is one of the marquee feature films playing this weekend at the Maryland Film Festival in Baltimore.
An award-winning documentary masterfully directed by Mike Plunkett, “Salero” is told through the eyes of a humble man named Moises who struggles to maintain his ancestral profession of salt mining in Bolivia’s unique Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat.
“My work is like an inheritance,” says Moises, “passed down from my great-grandfather, to my grandfather, to my father, to me.”
In a world as white and seemingly barren as the Salar, Moises comes from a family of saleros who have lived for generations in this secluded region. They are the last remaining salt gatherers in the town of Colchani, about 500 miles south of the country’s capital city, La Paz. Their day-to-day lives of salt harvesting and refining salt and the future of the Salar are thrust into the 21st century by plans to extract lithium from the region that promises newfound riches—but also means the end of Moises’ profession.
“This is the first time our country has the opportunity to use a natural resource for its own benefit,” says the head of development for the lithium pools taking over el Salar. “So this project is historic; it’s symbolic.”
In “Salero,” the audience follows Moises as he struggles with accepting and adapting to a new way of life, all the while leaving us to wonder whether such modernization and technology is a blessing or a curse, no matter how awe-inspiring it may seem.
The shots of the Salar are breathtaking and otherworldly, capturing its majesty throughout the entirety of the film. They allow the audience to marvel at the beauty Moises sees on a daily basis. Yet, they also allow us to share his moments of inner conflict over the possibility of losing it all.
Salero will be screening at the Maryland Film Festival, followed by a Q&A with director Mark Plunkett on Saturday, May 7 at 5:00 p.m. and Sunday, May 8 at 4:45 p.m. at The Single Carrot Theatre in Baltimore, MD.
—Lucia Jimenez
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