Cinema | Carola knows how to help herself

"If it contains gold, the ore always tastes a bit bitter. But if it contains copper, it has a slightly sharp aftertaste," explains Pacífico (Francisco Melo) to his 14-year-old daughter Carola (Katalina Sánchez) as he shows her an abandoned side tunnel where he suspects there is a gold vein. Located in the middle of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, one of the driest regions in the world, many small mines are occupied by pirquineros: this is what artisanal miners or prospectors are called in Chile, who extract minerals in small groups and using simple means.

One morning, Pacífico and Carola pick up four Pirquineros at a turnoff in the middle of nowhere. They load them, their bicycles and all, into the back of the pickup truck, then head off down a dusty track to the mine. They have to wait for the fourth Pirquinero, Humberto (Michael Silva), right at the beginning; he arrives drunk and late on his bike. Pacífico is annoyed, but Carola tells him: You can't fire him, otherwise we'll have Amadeo against us, and then everything will fall apart. Even in the wilderness, there are dependencies, power structures, and wealthier families. Or perhaps especially there.

The desert is vast; shots from high above reveal a breathtaking panorama of a lunar landscape, devoid of trees or houses—reddish-brown sand and rocks as far as the horizon. In it, Pacífico and Carola's pickup truck is dwarfed by a huge plume of dust trailing behind it.

When Carola's father is injured in a shootout, she drives the pickup truck to the Pirquineros' meeting point herself. She's already practiced driving. Little by little, she takes Pacífico's place – being accepted as boss by the four miners is anything but a given. At first they refuse to work with her, then they challenge Carola: Where is the copper vein? Pacífico is always responsible for finding it in all the rock. But she has the pickup truck, the money, the contacts to the copper buyer, and she tells them her father will be back soon. Everything is negotiated; nothing is certain. She has to assert her authority, give orders, be strong. And Pacífico's wound isn't healing quickly. He doesn't want to go to the hospital in Caldera – the staff there would have to report a gunshot wound to the police, and Pacífico doesn't want to go back to prison.

The shootout is like the dialogues, which are like verbal duels in which the final say is constantly being negotiated. Add to that vast expanse, hardly any women, and barely any civilization. The law of the jungle prevails: Yes, "Bitter Gold" is a kind of neo-western with pickup trucks, motorcycles, and bicycles instead of horses. The entire plot is shaped by the desire to escape precarious living conditions and to break through the rigid patriarchal structures. The other pirquineros see Carola as a sexual object, the drunken Humberto looks at her with an intrusive, lascivious gaze, and in one conflict, she is insulted as a "little whore" when her father isn't around. And her absent mother—her father is a single mother, which is why she has to live with him at the mine—is insulted as a "big whore." Even the pirquinero Juan María (Daniel Antivilo), standing nearby, doesn't protest, even though he's her uncle.

But Carola knows how to deal with it – even when Amadeo (Carlos Donoso) claims the Pacífico mine for himself. Legally speaking, the mine belongs to neither Pacífico nor Amadeo. But it's not about the mining rights, it's about who can prevail in the face-off. So, at the end, there's another showdown, this time a big one. Carola knows how important self-empowerment is in the face of macho men.

Bitter Gold (orig. "Oro Amargo"), Chile/Mexico/Uruguay/Germany 2024. Directed by Juan Olea. Starring: Katalina Sánchez, Francisco Melo, Michael Silva, Daniel Antivilo. 83 min. Theatrical release: August 21.