Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Ben Jonjak


It´s hardly a secret that Hollywood films frequently misrepresent the details of "exotic" regions. Let´s face it, those films are made primarily for American audiences, and for most Americans the world consists of the US surrounded by a vast, nebulous mystery-land (sad, but true).

As a consequence, US filmmakers feel they have carte blanche in picking a location on a map and portraying it in whatever fashion they see fit.

That´s all fine and dandy, but if you happen to be in one of those exotic locations watching an inaccurate portrayal, you start to recognize something that might never have occurred to you otherwise.

Those locations aren´t just letters on a map. They´re living, breathing regions with their own cultures and histories and, in most cases, they´re capable of providing stories that beat the pants off any random old silliness that might come out of a film director´s head. You've got to be careful how you represent them.

So it was with a little bit of trepidation that I sat in the cinema at the Óvalo de Gutierrez in Lima, Peru, and watched Indiana Jones declare that he was going to fly on down to visit the Nazca lines.

Having lived in Peru for several years, I know that Peruvians have a fierce and touching loyalty to their country (with good reason, there´s no shortage of beauty to be found here).

However, having seen Indiana Jones movies before, I was a little bit skeptical as to how Steven Spielberg was going to portray one of the world´s great wonderlands (he didn´t do India any favors now did he?).

It was kind of delightful to sense how the audience at the pre-screening of "Crystal Skull" reacted to just the mention of Peru. There was a surge of energy in the theatre and a smattering of applause. Indy´s on-screen declaration of his travel destination was soon followed by the trademark sepia map with the thick red line tracing the intrepid archaeologist´s flight plan all the way down to Cuzco, Peru.

Me? I was on the edge of my seat thinking, "Please Spielberg, be respectful, be fair, be accurate. Just for once, don't fall into the Hollywood cliche."

The results?

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(Plot is not spoiled)