Metal and Melancholy

In Lima, the Peruvian metropolis of seven million, Heddy Honigmann shares a cab ride with the taxi drivers for whom this occupation is the only way of keeping poverty at bay. More often than not it is their second job, one that requires little more than a car, in whatever state, and a “taxi” plate, which is sold on every street corner. Honigmann dissects their situation in energetic scenes with a precise, measured sense of emotion. Coming from a Peruvian-Italian-Jewish-Dutch background, the director was born in Lima and returned to the city after almost 20 years to make this film. The documentary road movie, almost completely shot from inside the taxis, reveals beautiful, moving anecdotes. Not only does it portray these colorful and intriguing everyday people, but it also mirrors their dreams, hopes and disappointments in early 1990s Peru. The economy was at an impasse. Teachers, soldiers, doctors and civil servants were part of the middle class in name only: in reality, their salaries were insufficient to feed their families. But the rebellious and passionate drivers keep their spirits up, even if their vehicles often look less cheerful.