On one side of the world, display cases sparkle with jewelry as the luxury industry makes a huge profit, while on the other the gold trade ruins the lives of South America’s indigenous people, who fight a war against this opaque form of commerce.

Picture gallery

In the wake of Dirty Paradise, about the Wayana’s fight against exploitative gold mining companies, and just before Trading Paradise, about trade in raw materials, Swiss documentary filmmaker Daniel Schweizer takes on the story of dirty gold. From extraction to sales, Schweizer reveals the lack of transparency in the industry and the pollution resulting from the mining process. But the real heroes are South America’s indigenous people, who are oppressed and victimized by the global trade in gold, and whom the director focuses his lens on. Schweizer denounces the absurdity of pillaging resources for a metal that ultimately ends up underground again – in the vaults of banks. Even though its form is conventional, the movie is informative and efficient in its storytelling, offering a further chapter in the series about the effects of the exploitation of resources on the environment and on regular people. It will certainly motivate audiences to see the third installment as well.