LAND (Julian Pinder, Canada). 76 minutes. Some subtitles. Sunday (May 2), 9:30 pm, Royal May 9, 2 pm, Isabel Bader. Rating: NN
The convoluted world of Nicaraguan real estate – still recovering from the Sandinista party’s eradication of private property rights in the 1980s – is examined in Julian Pinder’s initially intriguing but increasingly scattered documentary.
Pinder follows a few boastful American developers who’ve been buying up land on the southern coast with an eye to building a Latin Riviera, then contrasts their go-go enthusiasm with the resentment of the locals, old warriors with long memories and an endless supply of political rhetoric.
Pinder makes some worthwhile observations about the American compulsion to meddle in Nicaraguan affairs after all, this isn’t the first time gringos have pumped cash into the country for their own selfish reasons. But at 76 minutes, Land feels half an hour too long.[rssbreak]