A’plas: Award-winning Documentary

I went to school with Diego Colombi, and we worked on a few films together.  I’d heard a lot about his documentary “A’Plas” that he went to Guatemala to film, but had never had the chance to see it.  Recently, I caught up with him and he gave me a DVD of it, and a link to the website.  At first I went into it with the mind frame of Documentaries are long and drawn out, but when I watched the preview I immediately put in the DVD and watched the whole thing.

Here’s the link to the A’Plas webpage and Director Diego Colombi’s page:

http://www.dcolombi.com/

The film itself is a little under a half-hour, and has some of the best content I’ve seen in a documentary.  The story follows the actions Father Stanley Rother, a Priest from a small town in Oklahoma.  In the 70’s and 80’s there was terrible political fighting in Guatemala, and the country was policed by a dictator.  There were left and right guerrilla factions creating uprisings in various parts of the country, and in Santiago Atitlan the people were facing the harsh realities of an impoverished undereducated lifestyle.  Living on less than $2 dollars a day the people fought to survive.  And that is the town where Father Stanley Rother was sent to do his missionary work.  He built homes, taught people how to read and write, brought medical supplies and called in favors of people from America to help with the unsuitable living conditions.  While he was there, the infant mortality rate dropped drastically, and all of this would come to an end with the government sent armed forces to police the town for Guerrilla or Communist activity.  They found Father Rother to be a menace, and eventually he was murdered for helping the people of Santiago Atitlan.

(Director Diego Colombi, and Cinematographer Bernardo Marentes)

It had a great sense of pacing and used still imagery, found imagery, and new imagery to set the backdrop for what life was like for these people.  It’s juxtaposed with interviews with the people that Father Rother touched, and the people the were friends of the priest.  This is definitely one of the best documentaries I’ve seen, it doesn’t get boring, and the content keeps you interested and wanting more when the end comes around.  I hope they continue working on this, and get it seen widespread.  Currently the trailer is available at the link above, as well as contact information to attain a copy of the DVD.  I recommend watching this highly!

Film Rating:

9.5

Here’s the link to the A’Plas webpage and Director Diego Colombi’s page:

http://www.dcolombi.com/