Le Songe du diable

Each year in Guatemala, poor farmers leave their homes to work on coffee, cotton and sugar plantations owned by wealthy landowners. Terror holds sway in those places-revendications often end up in murders or “vanishings”. More than 45 000 widows mourn “missing persons” in Guatemala. The documentary also highlights the sharp contrast dividing Guatemalan society- the world of undernourishment and illiteracy and the world of the wealthy who are protected by the army. The film enables the poor to talk about their own lives. Their tales are conveyed with the help of the traditional allegorical dance called “the dance of the 24 devils”. Each devil stands for a vice rampant in society. The poor thus enact an anonymous and collective play illustrating their current preoccupations.