Eyes Wide Open

In 1971, Uruguayan journalist and writer Eduardo Galeano published his landmark work Open Veins of Latin America, in which he comprehensively described the centuries of economic exploitation of Latin America. Almost 40 years later, filmmaker Gonzalo Arijon reevaluates the situation. His search takes him from the soybean plantations of the Brazilian Amazon to the tin mines of Bolivia to the deep jungles of Ecuador. Arijon's politically committed film allows the local populations to speak for themselves, interspersing this with archival footage of speeches by Hugo Chávez, Lula da Silva and Evo Morales. Galeano himself also speaks—sometimes in poetic language—about how the rise of socialist governments in the early 21st century is benefitting Latin America, and what more can be done.
 

“I believe in the diversity of the human condition. The best thing about the world is the amount of worlds it has.” Eduardo Galeano
 

En 1971 Eduardo Galeano publicó su libro más memorable: Las venas abiertas de América Latina; 40 años después, Gonzalo Arijón toma su cámara en una mano, los textos de Galeano en otra y emprende un viaje, narrado por la poética voz de Galeano mismo, a la América Latina que para muchos es invisible. Pasando por Brasil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Uruguay... intenta conocer y comprender mejor a esos hombres y mujeres que, desde sus combates cotidianos, forjaron un singular momento histórico.