Devil Gold is director José Novoa's third collaboration with producer Elia Schneider, and like the previous two films, Huelepega (or Glue Sniffer, which Schneider directed in 2000) and Sicario (1994), the film is a thriller-melodrama that focuses on a real-life problem plaguing Venezuela, with an emphasis on how the conditions affect children. Thus, after a few titles explaining the impact that gold mining has had on the country's Amazon region, along with helicopter footage (later to be blended into the narrative) of the ecologically devastated area, the film settles in on the lawless shanty town of Payapal for its narrative. Gallego (Armando Gota) runs the mine, exploiting his cheap labor force. Aroldo (Pedro Lander) breaks into Gallego's safe and steals his gold, along with a good deal of gold that Gallego was holding for his workers. Aroldo involves the unwitting Carmen (Jenny Noguera) in the robbery, and, when they are discovered, he shoots and kills Gallego's young son.
Cinematography
Helicopter shots of ecological devastation that haunt long after.
Acting
Laureano Olivares as Cae — child actors carrying adult weight.
Direction
Novoa's unflinching eye on real Venezuelan tragedy.
Director
José Ramón Novoa
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of Novoa and Schneider's unofficial 'Venezuelan crisis trilogy' — rare mainstream cinema confronting illegal mining's child labor epidemic.
The helicopter footage was shot for a documentary that fell through; Novoa built his entire narrative around this existing ecological horror.
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