Once Upon a Time in Venezuela
**Seen for the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival.
Venezuela is often held by conservatives as an example of how socialism doesn’t work. This documentary by Anabel Rodriguez Rios doesn’t debate that issue, but illuminates how corruption and neglect is universal. The village of Congo Mirador, which sits on a lagoon, has a lot of issues, and people have gradually been moving away from it. Not far from deposits of oil, sediment has become a worsening issue for the health of the inhabitants, as well as their ability to take care of their homes and school. The ability for people to have their voice heard not only in the country as a whole, but their community in particular, feels muted by the people in charge, whom seem to put their faith in the government that has appeared to abandon them. If you see similarities with, say, Flint, Michigan, and it’s long struggles because of governmental neglect, I would not blame you. A larger understanding of Venezuelan politics would be preferential in helping to understand the circumstances that this village finds itself in, but Rios is more concerned with the people in the village, and how they are struggling. We get to know the educator who is trying to make due with her situation, but she is not trusted by some as being a good teacher. Along the way, we continue to see people get their homes on boats, and take them, trying to find a better life. It’s a tragedy that, through bureaucratic hand-wringing, they are unable to find that life at the home they’ve known.
