THE CHOCOLATE FARMER (Rohan Fernando, Canada). 70 minutes. Rating: NNN
If The Chocolate Farmer feels like it’s going nowhere, that’s because its subject is headed in the same direction.
Rohan Fernando’s doc leisurely observes Eladio Pop, a chocolate farmer in Belize who clings to an ancient Mayan lifestyle while everyone around him – including some of his 15 children – is eager to progress with globalization and the capital markets. The film dabbles in exoticism while it mourns the passing of traditional agriculture, sympathizing with the inability of farmers like Eladio to sustain themselves.
However, it withholds criticism of a man who stubbornly refuses to adapt and shies away from sending his kids to school, hoping they’ll carry on their past-due culture.
