 
Dr. Merry's Nomad Travel: Treasures of Peru
Average Rating: 3.0 Total Reviews: 1
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 On: 2007-12-24
I saw a documentary on Machu Picchu once and it was boring: all stones and no people. This documentary is different in that it speaks of people, boats, customs, history, etc.
Many know that the Spanish persecuted the indigenous peoples of America, but this work says that the Inca also oppressed smaller tribes. Theres the widely known term "pre-Hispanic," but this work also uses the term "pre-Incan." This work does not treat Peruvians as a monolithic group. It shows smaller cultures that the Incans did not conquer and it showed they Aymara who were not Incan and do not speak Quechua. Many may be horrified by seeing a man playing a pre-colonial priest who hacks a llamas heart out.
This may be new to DVD, but it has the documentary style of something done in the 1970s. Instead of showing a person speaking Spanish or Quechua and then having an English translator come in, this work has a narrator who summarizes interviewees, but you never hear from the people themselves.
The work moves from the indigenous to the modern and Hispanicized. The work starts by saying the Peruvian Tourism Board helped to put this together. So this is not a neutral work. However, it did its job: this does make me want to take a trip to Peru. The work doesnt say anything about Fujimori or the Shining Path. This may be a nice documentary for students to watch when a Spanish language class is wrapping up.
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