Product Description

{Award of Excellence -- Society for Visual Anthropology 2006 }
{Grand Jury Award, Best Documentary -- Miami Film Festival 2005}
{Special Mention, Best Documentary -- Slamdance Film Festival 2005 }
{Best Documentary-- IFP Market 2004 }

La Sierra is a barrio in Medellin, Colombia-- the cocaine capital of the world. Here, lives are defined by drugs, guns and violence. A state of perpetual urban warfare exists, with paramilitary gangs, leftist guerrillas and the US-sponsored Colombian military battling continually for power and control. The award-winning documentary LA SIERRA explores life in the barrio over the course of one year through the prism of three young lives.

Edison, aka "The Doll," is a paramilitary commander in La Sierra. At the age of 22, he is the de facto mayor of the neighborhood and father to six children by six different women. Though openly dedicated to and excited by his life of violence, Edison is an intelligent and charismatic young man. As we follow him through the conflict, its victories and setbacks, he shares his dreams for himself and his children and explains his attachment to what he calls "my war."

Cielo, age 17, was displaced from the countryside as a young child when her brother and father were murdered by guerillas. A mother at the age of 15, she was widowed when the father of her son (a gang member) was killed. Now Cielo is devoted to a new boyfriend, a paramilitary, who she visits in jail every Sunday.

Jesus, 19, is a mid-level paramilitary member. Badly wounded when a homemade grenade blew up in his hands and face, Jesus presents himself as ready for death at any moment, regularly indulging in marijuana and cocaine.

LA SIERRA is an intimate, unflinching portrait of three lives defined by violence and a community wracked by conflict. Over the course of a year these lives, and the life of the barrio itself, undergo profound changes, experiencing victory, defeat, hope, despair, love and death. Entering a world where few journalists dare to venture, filmmakers Scott Dalton and Margarita Martinez reveal not only startling moments of violence and its aftermath, but also those of tenderness and faith that give the community hope for survival.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73353 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-02-20
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 84 minutes

Review
An intimate, powerfully disturbing look at the violent barrios of Medellin, Colombia, where baby-faced youths tote guns, commit murder and snort cocaine with a live-fast-die-young abandon.
Sobering stuff you'll likely never forget. --LA Weekly

Review
An unforgettable, singular entry into one of the world's oldest civil wars. --Miami Herald

Review
A stark, relentlessly deglamourized vision of thug life, LA SIERRA is essential viewing! --Village Voice

Customer Reviews

Great, authentic experience
This great and atmospheric work shows real life issues (war, drugs, family, "no future") in the mountains around Medellin.

a must see...
An insightful and personal look at the lives of Colombian teens caught up in a local war for territory and power. Beautifully shot and edited, it is a must see if you are interested in any topics concerning Latin America, Colombia, drug wars, gangs etc...

Three Young Lives In A Crime Ridden Medellin Neighborhood
My wife is originally from Ecuador and has good friends in Colombia. So far I have visited the country three times and have developed considerable affection and admiration for its people, the majority of whom of are honest, good hearted, law abiding citizens.

Like all of Latin America there is still considerable poverty in Colombia and a criminal element who attempt to make money by any means necessary. But what makes Colombia uniquely dangerous is its huge involvement in narco-trafficking, especially cocaine, and the civil war that is still being conducted between the government and the narco guerrilla groups.

This film focuses on three young people. Edison, who serves as a leader for the Bloque Metro, Jesus, a spaced out cokehead who sees no future for himself, and Cielo, a girl of only 17 who is already a mother, a widow and with a new boyfriend in jail. It struck me how sweet and good natured these kids seemed to be despite all the violence that they were surrounded by and participating in. Their personalities seemed almost the opposite of the proudly brutal, vulgar, and arrogant thugs usually associated with gang life in the United States.

One aspect that was different about these Colombian kids is that they didn't seem to view themselves so much as self-centered criminals but rather as war combatants. In this case, they were siding with the Colombian para-miltaries in an attempt to protect their neighborhood from the ELN guerillas.

To put these events in context, violent conflict between liberals and conservatives has divided Colombia throughout it's history. In the 1960's several Communist guerilla movements formed. The largest of the guerilla groups is FARC, though ELN is also a significant player. But nowadays these guerillas groups are fueled less by ideology than the billions of dollars available through narco-trafficking. The right wing para-miltaries are also involved in the drug business and, with so much money at stake, violence between these rival groups is constant. So poor kids from the barrios of Medellin and elsewhere are used as pawns and foot soldiers.

This film doesn't explain much about the political context. But it does provide a very real and human face to demonstrate the suffering caused by this drug money fueled conflict. The movie is full of action and close up scenes that transport the viewer, almost like being a resident of the neighborhood just hanging out with these kids. The beautiful country of Colombia and it's kind, hard working people deserve better. Unfortunately, I see no end in sight as long as the drug busines is driven underground by this idiotic "War On Drugs".