En el hoyo (In the Pit)

Documentaries are not easy. When they aren't done really well, it is really hard to sit through them. I wouldn't say that this was the case for this film, necessarily, but I don't think that pointing a camera at a few well-seasoned characters and a mind-blowing public works project automatically makes for an interesting story on its own. The bridge in Mexico City has been under construction for decades and the workers are still plugging away at it and the routine of their world is shown without much focus or arc or progress. (Perhaps that's the point, but again, it doesn't make for interesting cinema.) I enjoyed this well enough, though, and the characters with their funny nicknames for each other and their obsessions and weaknesses did hold my attention. The filmmaker didn't judge them for who they were, and while I wouldn't want to hang out with any of them, I did feel like I met some colorful folks and watched them work for an hour. Huh.