PROLIFIC filmmaker Heddy Honigmann, the champion of the little people, is back and in fine form.
In “Oblivion,” Honigmann — she was born in Lima, Peru, and now lives in the Netherlands — takes her camera into the streets and restaurants of her native city to sound out locals about the economic malaise that afflicts their country.
Her subjects include a classy bartender who mixes a Pisco — a blend of lemons and corn syrup — while he rages against the corrupt dictators who have bled the country dry.
A shoeshine boy, a leather-goods repairman and the guy who makes the presidential sashes also have their say.
Most dramatically, she repeatedly turns to the child acrobats and jugglers who beg for money from motorists stopped in traffic. It’s a dangerous job, for which the kids earn just pennies a day.
All of Honigmann’s subjects paint a picture of life in Peru that is marginal for all but the very rich.
Just last week, one of Peru’s former dictators, Alberto Fujimori, was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for ordering killings and kidnappings while he ruled in the 1990s.
The news came too late for “Oblivion,” of course, but I’m willing to bet it delighted Honigmann and the little people of Peru.
OBLIVION
In Spanish, with English subtitles. Running time: 93 minutes. Not rated (not for kids). At Film Forum, Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue.