Life Is Sacred

Director Andreas Dalsgaard captures two presidential campaigns in Colombia as seen through the perspective of activist Katherine Miranda, who became a supporter of Antanas Mockus when he served as the mayor of Bogotá. Dalsgaard begins by filming Mockus's perilous presidential campaign in 2010 before catching up with him again in 2014. The danger comes from death threats, a hazard for any opposition figure, although Mockus comes across as a true original in other respects, since he's a mathematician, philosopher, and something of a loose cannon (at one of his mayoral rallies, Mockus gained a measure of infamy when he mooned an audience of rowdy students to quiet them down). As mayor, he made violence his primary target, and reduced the homicide rate by 70%. Mockus's presidential campaign heats up when rival candidate Juan Manuel Santos hires a political operative, J.J. Rendón, who is known for dirty campaigning. In TV interviews, Rendón freely admits that he will spread false rumors if he thinks it will help. The situation turns even darker when the media links Santos with the deaths of 5,000 guerilla fighters (many of whom weren't guerillas at all). When the election results roll in and Santos wins, supporters suspect fraud, but Mockus refuses to condemn the outcome for fear that it will discourage citizens from voting in the future. Still, his youthful supporters feel let down, with one man lamenting, “I feel like the dream is over.” Mockus's mother, a visual artist, feels that he has done “very little,” but Dalsgaard shows how Mockus's actions would come to have a positive effect on the 2014 election. Although Mockus has since receded from politics, Miranda remains involved, inspired by her experiences with him. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)