Sayen

Sayen is a movie about a Chilean native tribe called the Mapuche living in balance with their world of mountains and forest. It's full of lovely scences but the native lands sit atop a large deposit of cobalt. If you've paid enough attention to modern events and are in the habit of self education then you might know that cobalt is a relatively rare mineral that is much in demand. It's a key material for electrni devices like computers, smart phones, etc. It's mainly used for manufacturing the batteries that our world's small devices run on.

As such mega corporations are willing to do about any corrupt thing to gain possession of cobalt lands. Sayen is about this kind of corruption. The movie is well acted and direct, no wasted effort, some basic dramatic action and violence. But mining cobalt has itself involved violence and death in real life. Most decent companies are moving away from cobalt and researching the more efficient use of lithium for batteries these days. It's a good direction since lithium is one of the most abundant minerals on Earth and obtainable in many places and relatively cheaper than cobalt.

I recommend watching Sayen if you like good movies, like a quick example of the cobalt situation or like learning to open your mind. It's a better movie than most of the trash Hollywood creates.

(2023) Sayen (In Spanish and Mapudungun with English subtitles) THRILLER/ SOCIAL COMMENTARY.

It opens with an aboriginal Mapuche woman of Chile, being chased by three people armed with guns through the forest until she jumps several feet down below into the water falls. The movie then jumps backward three days earlier, and we find out later that the woman who jumped at the opening her name is "Sayen" played by Rallen Montenegro- hence the title. And that her and her grandmother are clashing with Spanish developers, headed by the son, Antonio Torres (Aron Piper)in search for cobalt for the intention of pleasing his father Llamando Torres.

From what you can watch from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, including North America the action in this film is quite weak and uninspiring. And don't get me wrong, I love to watch movies about female empowerment but the action is reminiscent toward a TV movie.

I find that the poster of this movie slightly misleading as at first, I thought the Mapuche aboriginal woman was working alongside the white dude with the gun, but it's like, as you are watching it, it turns out that the white guy on the poster is the same dude who killed that lady's grandmother and that she is seeking retribution on him as well as others. This is yet another example of false advertising.

Surprised at the overall 4.6 rating for this, although the film doesn't offer anything new to the one-against-many trope for an action film, the overall plot is still half decent compared to other higher rated action films in the same ball-park. The lead actress does a pretty good job and the majority of the supporting cast make the film watchable enough.

The cinematography is also pretty decent with some awesome shots of the Chilean landscape which I think definitely adds some points to the production value. Reading about this film I'm not sure making a trilogy is necessary a great idea but not a bad low budgeter as a one time watch.

The film is a visual treat. I did not know Chile was so beautiful. The story has some of the usual tropes of the underdog fighting the system, but it's presented differently. The protagonist is a strong tribal woman; not once does the movie somehow contrive to get her to take off her clothes to give fan service. She stays in character throughout as an intense yet sensitive woman bent on gaining justice for herself and her people.

The cast is fairly small, but does the job well. For me (who has never been to South America or the Western Hemisphere), it was interesting to see the tribal celebrations and the very colourful people and culture.

The screenplay could be slightly more polished, or maybe it makes some assumptions about cultural knowledge. But it was still a good action movie with a different kind of protagonist.

If it were a regular Hollywood movie, I would give it something like 7.5 stars. But the visual beauty and exposure to a new culture and film industry adds a little more novelty to it for me.

I liked this movie. I was impressed by the use of the Mapuche language, and found the character of Sayen, who trained as a Mapuche warrior as a child, believable. I liked that she seemed like a person a mainstream person might meet in University who was returning to her people. Unlike some Marvel character, this character makes me curious about what is happening with native people in Patagonia. She was sympathetic, as was her grandmother. She showed a range of emotion not usually seen in a woman character, but appropriate for her situation. Namely fierce anger. I would love to see a sequel of Sayen's life in the jungle and her ongoing struggle against the corporate invasion of her peoples' land.