Toto has spent most of his life working as a gold prospector on the southernmost tip of Chile. Now in his 60s, he still stands in the river using a sieve to harvest the glistening snippets of gold—day in, day out, come snow or sunshine. He lives a simple and contented life in a little wooden house, along with his son Jorge.
But prospecting is taking an increasing toll on his health, leading to a spell in the hospital. Nonetheless, Toto refuses to trade his way of life for more comfortable work in a neighboring town. So Jorge decides to help his father by designing and building a gold prospecting machine out of old parts.
Over the course of several years the camera follows Toto and Jorge’s dreamlike and melancholic existence. Their conversations and discussions about life, ill-health, and death grow increasingly pressing. Why does fate strike some people harder than others, they wonder, and does it help if you are a believer?
After months of welding, grinding and screw-driving, Jorge’s rusty contraption is in place at last, and his father can get to work again. Will the machine actually work, and will it make Toto’s life easier?
Stills
