Sometimes the great events of history affect – and even change – our lives. And sometimes those events are merely the backdrop to our own personal dramas. This is explored in the Venezuelan anthology Little Histories (Historias Pequenas).
The vignettes in Little Histories are set in a four-day period of national upheaval in April 2002. A popular attempted coup d’état removed Hugo Chavez from his presidency for 47 hours, until he was restored by the military. Throughout Little Histories, we watch Venezuelans from all walks of life as they lead their ordinary lives through the national tumult – or try to. Live news reports about the coup are always on the televisions, ubiquitous in every home and office. Some characters hear gunfire or breathe tear gas, and some have riots break out on the street where they live.
All this is just background noise for an affluent professional couple whose marriage is rocked by one adulterous episode too many. But the turmoil becomes all too present for a homeless guy and a drug-addled hooker when the rioting finds the spot on the street that they habituate. And, for a mid-level military officer and his volatile girlfriend, all becomes unraveled when the coup threatens to expose a corruption scam, and he is being hung out to dry as the fall guy.
Actress Assiak Oviedo is superb as a housekeeper in the governmental palace, steadfastly mopping the marble floors as the nation’s leaders rise and fall and rise again around her. There’s a wonderful scene where a jubilant elite celebrates the takeover; behind them, a journalist, a security guy, two waiters and the housekeeper watch impassively, without having a stake in the outcome.
This is the first narrative feature for writer-director Rafael Marziano Tinoco, and his insights into the overlay between personal and societal crises are original and sometimes profound. Cinequest is hosting the world premiere of Little Histories.