Educational Media Reviews Online

The documentary Landfall is a beautifully shot documentary depicting life in Puerto Rico in the two years between the destruction of Hurricane Maria in 2017 and when people took to the streets to remove Ricardo Rossello as Governor in 2019. In these two years, Puerto Rico was already in 72 million dollars in debt and the hurricane brought more financial struggles to the people of Puerto Rico which caused this political movement.

This documentary took place all over the country of Puerto Rico with a nice visual map so viewers knew where each scene was occurring. There was not much introduction to people who were being interviewed. There was minimal footage of the people talking. Most of the film had the audio of the interviews over footage of the land. This footage of the land was stunning. Beautiful and shocking scenes were shown, and this really brought the struggle of Puerto Rico to light. Older footage of Puerto Rico was also incorporated to give some visual and narrative background. These older footage scenes helped move the story of how the past of Puerto Rico has impact the current state of Puerto Rico. I thought these parts really added to the documentary and gave some of that background info that I felt like I was missing.

I recommend Landfall because of its amazing shots of life in Puerto Rico and the information that you get from all of the interviews. The only issue with this documentary is that there are no introductions of who people are which can make it difficult to follow. I also think a viewer would need to know more about Puerto Rico's history to fully understand the debt Puerto Rico was in and why the social movement seen at the end of the film is so important. There was minimal explanation as to why this was occurring and why there was a celebration after.

Awards:

Best Documentary Feature, Boston Latino International Film Festival; Best Documentary Feature Award, Guanajuato International Film Festival; Special Jury Award, Florida Film Festival

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