A tour guide in a Catholic church points children to a ceiling painting showing angels fighting to keep Indigenous people out, claiming beams were sent to scare them away. Indigenous viewers, including a child baptized in the same church, watch the tour on a mobile phone and react to the guide’s certainty that even God wants to erase them. The documentary follows the 2009 killing of Diaguita leader Javier Chocobar during a land dispute, framing it as part of a broader historical problem. The film centers on footage recorded during the confrontation, involving a mining businessman and former police officers, and presents the event as evidence of systemic alienation and denial of Indigenous rights.
"See how these angels fought to keep the Indigenous out, and they sent these beams to scare them away, says the guide. The following scene shows Indigenous people from the region including a child baptised in that very church watching footage of the tour on a mobile phone. One of them said: Listening to him [the guide], you realise how convinced he is that even God wants to erase us for good."
"Landmarks is Martel's first documentary and dives into one case the killing of an Indigenous leader in a land dispute in 2009 to address a broader and historical problem. The Argentine population is very alienated when it comes to Indigenous issues, says Martel, 59. Every effort has been made in this country not to recognise the rights of Indigenous communities."
"The film's central focus is Javier Chocobar, an activist and leader of the Diaguita people from the Chuschagasta community in the province of Tucuman, who was 68 when he was shot dead inside his territory on 12 October 2009. The moment of the killing was filmed by one of the accused, the mining businessman Dario Luis Amin, who claimed ownership of the land and arrived at the community accompanied by two former police officers, Luis Humberto Gomez and Eduardo Jose del Milagro Valdivieso Sassi."
"The footage shows the beginning of an argument between them and members of the Indigenous community, and the moment Gomez opens fire on one of them. Afterwards, Amin stops focusing on the confrontation, and another eight gunshots can be he"
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