Oblivion

Honigmann (FOREVER, METAL AND MELANCHOLY, O AMOUR NATURAL) is one of the world’s most skilled and empathetic filmmakers, and her extraordinary talent is apparent again in her fascinating portrait of Lima, Peru's capital city. Revealing its startling contrasts of wealth and poverty, she explores how many of its poorest citizens have survived decades of corruption, economic crisis, and injustice. OBLIVION provides intimate and moving portraits of street musicians, waiters, vendors, shoeshine boys, and the gymnasts and jugglers (some mere children) who perform at traffic stops. The film also visits with small business owners, from a leather-goods repairman and presidential sash manufacturer to a frog-juice vendor, and contrasts their work environments with the reality of their homes in the slums of the city's surrounding hillsides. As Honigmann introduces us to the everyday reality of Lima, she celebrates a people who, albeit politically powerless, have resisted being consigned to oblivion.