El barro de la revolución (The Earth of Revolution)

Paloma Polo puts forward narratives around power and knowledge reflecting the evolution of political thought in people, exploring how certain social constructs and knowledge can create political change.
El barro de la revolución (The Earth of Revolution) takes as its starting point the question around the social conditions of political change. To look for a response, Polo goes into revolutionary hiding in the Philippines. Work, communal living and film investigation on the guerrilla front are the apotheosis of three years of examination and reflection inside this subversive struggle. The film stresses the resistance to colonial oppression, showing how the communist struggle, rooted in centuries of resistance, remains alive in poor and Indigenous campesino communities.
Further, the work offers an intimate, multi-voiced portrait of life in a guerrilla unit as Polo captures the transformation of individuals and communities through revolution, revealing its impact on social relations and the environment. The guerrillas are depicted not only as fighters, but also as educators, doctors and farmers capable of transforming their communities into laboratories of social and political change.

Cristina Cámara Bello