You have to wait until the end of “In the Pit” to get a bird’s eye view of the enormous elevated freeway being constructed during the movie. But when it comes, the astonishing view is worth it.
“In the Pit” is a documentary about the building of the Second Deck, a massive project in Mexico City. The film gives little conventional background on the undertaking. Instead, it digs into the lives of the workers in one section of the road.
We begin below ground, in a pit meant for a giant support tower, and gradually work our way up. A handful of men, and one woman, become the “chorus” for director-photographer Juan Carlos Rulfo.
In a group, the men exhibit the usual tribal attributes of men in groups: rough mockery, the giving of nicknames, the pecking order of blowhard, peacemaker, jester, etc.
When interviewed alone, the men reveal more about themselves, whether it is their sensitivities or their brutalities. Rulfo’s camera allows them to speak without commenting on these monologues.
By and large they are grateful to have work, even if the work is tough. The iron workers are high above the street, working their cables through the pillars that will hold the freeway. When asked if he is scared of heights, one worker observes that he is scared of not having food on Saturday. He can’t afford vertigo.
Along with the interviews, Rulfo includes some establishing sequences of vast chunks of roadway being put into place. These are shot in time-lapse fashion, which gives them a weird, poetic quality.
Adding to this is the truly inventive musical score by Leonardo Heiblum, which mixes industrial and city sounds into a music track. This comes to culmination, as does the movie itself, in the long final helicopter shot of the freeway under construction.
This kind of documentary aims for an impressionistic view; invariably, this will leave the viewer wanting to know more about the people involved, the traffic, the political cost of such a project.
Instead, “In the Pit” is a musical piece, a collage of images and voices designed to put you on the spot. At that, it succeeds.
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