GRANITO (MOTION PICTURE)
Summary
This documentary is about filmmaker Pamela Yates' return to Guatemala after her 1983 documentary "When the Mountains Tremble," and her efforts to use the film as evidence of the genocide perpetrated there by the military. The program begins with Yates explaining that her first documentary chronicled a "hidden war," and that she has developed a sense of responsibility in regards to history and archiving. In the first chapter, "A Chronicle Foretold," Yates meets with attorney Almudena Bernabeu, who is attempting to put together a case to prosecute the Guatemalan generals for the crime of genocide and wants to use Yates' film, including the outtakes, to do so. Since 1954 the United States has supported Guatemala's military government, whose ruthless methods eventually led to the revolt of the indigenous people. At first, the government killed any journalists who attempted to report the truth, but when they held a sham election in 1982, they were forced to allow the press into the country, and Yates managed to slip in. However, most people were still too frightened to talk to Yates and her team. Kate Doyle, forensic archivist, analyzes a number of secret government documents from the time, some of which include orders to "dispose of" revolutionaries. At a cemetery, forensic anthropologist Fredy Peccerelli works to uncover mass graves containing the bodies of many of those who were "disappeared" by the government during the genocide.
During filming of "Mountains," Yates attempted to contact the guerrilla fighters who worked against the government, but found them impossible to contact. However, a covert meeting with journalist Naomi Roht-Arriaza provided her with useful sources, and they traveled secretly and under cover of darkness into the highlands, crossing "a line of trust" and meeting up with the insurgents. Former guerrilla leader Gustavo Meoño talks about the values of their group, and why he found it "right and necessary" to work against the regime. Roht-Arriaza recalls her shock when dozens of fighters arrived for a meeting and admits that she is not sure what happened to them later on. Later, Yates met with military leaders and asked to come along on a mission and, believing her young and harmlessly naïve, they allowed her into their helicopter, which was then shot down by the guerrillas. Impressed with her mettle, the military allowed Yates more access to their activities, and she was able to gain footage of both sides of the conflict. A young Mayan woman, Rigoberta Menchú, became the "storyteller" of "Mountains" and continued her work for freedom after the film, but she and the other fighters were unprepared for the strength of the government's "scorched earth" retaliatory tactics. Doyle explains that the U.S. helped "create the machine" that led to the government's "uniquely savage" response, in which roughly 200,000 people were killed. Roht-Arriaza and Yates admit that they were afraid and discouraged, and that the film came to serve as a "poignant reminder of defeat." However, the resistance continued: Menchú traveled the world, speaking out against the violence, and eventually won the Nobel Peace Prize. Measures towards peace were officially taken in 1996, and in 1999 the events of the '80s were formally declared a genocide.
The second chapter, "Genocide on Trial," details the slow process of Bernabeu's legal case, which began to move more quickly when Judge Santiago Pedraz became involved. Bernabeu and the others still needed to definitively prove that crimes of genocide took place, however, and Roht-Arriaza became involved again as well, explaining that her time in Guatemala changed her life and led her to attend law school. The team engages witnesses from the highlands of Guatemala, many of whom are involved in a survivors' association, and they describe how the landowners stole their property and essentially asked the government to kill them, with the soldiers claiming they were "just following orders." Leader Antonio Caba Caba and thirty other eyewitnesses gather in Spain and present disturbing evidence of the massacres, being forbidden to do so in Guatemala, explaining that they were even ordered to kill their own parents. Yates finds additional outtakes from her interviews with army general and President Rios Montt, who denies everything and claims he did not authorize any killings, and Bernabeu struggles to find proof against his statements. Finally, they find "explosive" documents detailing "Operation Sofia," which orders the "extermination" of the rebels, and they analyze the forms closely. Yates, Bernabeu and the others finally testify before Pedraz, providing the video footage and the eyewitness testimony, which the judge notes to be painful to observe. However, Montt then proves that he still has power in the country as the Guatemalan government blocks the arrest warrants, thus preventing the generals' necessary extradition to Spain, which greatly frustrates everyone involved.
In the final chapter, "Grains of Sand," Yates and the others find hope in the fact that other dictators, including Chile's Augusto Pinochet, have been imprisoned for their crimes against humanity. Caba Caba states his resolve to keep fighting, but admits that poverty is a problem: he and his people do not have enough land, but cannot leave while the struggle continues. Noting that history will repeat itself if justice is not served, the families of the "disappeared" begin to get involved, including Alejandra Garcia, whose father Fernando vanished when she was a child. Peccerelli describes the trauma of fleeing Guatemala in his youth and later viewing "Mountains," and Garcia talks about her mother's efforts to learn the truth about her husband's fate. Finally, a breakthrough: a mountain of paperwork from the national police is found in 2005, containing endless evidence of murders and disappearances, and an archival team works to sift through it all. Garcia is encouraged that she will learn the truth about her father through the documents, admitting that she is holding onto hope that he is alive, though Peccerelli receives a threatening letter, ordering him to stop his investigation into the disappeared, which he refuses to do. Caba Caba states that it is his "destiny" to continue fighting for justice, explaining that he is just one "granito de arena," or grain of sand, but that together, many people can make a difference. Menchú talks about her interpretation of the "profoundly humble phrase," and the epilogue reveals that change has indeed begun: two military officials were convicted and sentenced to forty years in prison for the disappearance of Garcia's father.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: November 30, 2010
- RUNNING TIME: 1:43:23
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 106787
- GENRE: Documentary; Guatemala; Genocide
- SUBJECT HEADING: Documentary
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Paco de Onis … Executive Producer, Writer
- Beatriz Gallardo Shaul … Co-Producer, Line Producer
- Sally Eberhardt … Associate Producer
- Jesse Loncraine … Associate Producer, Line Producer
- David Jammy … Consulting Producer
- Marcie Mersky … Consulting Producer
- Maria Carrion … Line Producer
- Guillermo Carrion … Line Producer
- Peter Kinoy … Writer
- Pamela Yates … Writer, Director
- Roger Clark Miller … Music by
- Almudena Bernabeu
- Antonio Caba Caba
- Alejandra Garcia
- Fernando Garcia
- Rigoberta Menchú
- Gustavo Meoño
- Rios Montt
- Fredy Peccerelli
- Santiago Pedraz
- Augusto Pinochet
- Naomi Roht-Arriaza