The Devil Operation

The film opens in 2001, with a dispute over the Yanacocha gold mine's plan to expand to a sacred mountain. Inhabitants of this mountainous region depended on the free, flowing water to survive, for their livestock and fields, but discovered that the water had been polluted by the actions of an American mining company. The community revolted. In 2004, local priest Marco Arana was able to prevent bloodshed by acting as an intermediary. Briefly, it seemed that disaster had been avoided, until Marco Arana and a group of environmental activists discovered that they were being followed everywhere and photographed. Threats and intimidation were commonplace, and there was even a fatality. Who were the mysterious spies watching them every minute of every day? Documentary filmmaker Stephanie Boyd, who had previously made films about wrongdoing in relation to the mining industry in Peru, originally planned to film the protesting farmers, but discovered while filming that the story surrounding this particular gold mine went much deeper. As Boyd was filming when she made this discovery, her film can be watched as an exciting political thriller. Using archive footage, interviews, and her personal findings, she sets out to unmask the proverbial Goliath raining stones down on David.