Chac the Rain God

A cult film from the 1970s, lost for years and now newly restored, Chac: The Rain God is based on a combination of ritual and legends from the Popul Vuh, as well as Tzeltal and Mayan stories. This gorgeous film, shot in the Chiapas region of Mexico by Chilean director Rolando Klein, focuses on a small Tzeltal village during a terrible drought. Desperate for relief, thirteen men set out on a quest to save their people from starvation. They seek a solitary Diviner who lives in the mountains and knows the ways of the Ancients; they hope that he can summon Chac, the Rain God. The Diviner takes them far from their own land on a strange journey, a trek that challenges their beliefs and even their saint.

Chac is magical, mystical, and intensely visual. A dazzling portrait of a Native American spirtiual quest, Chac is a visionary masterpiece as powerful and revolutionary as Walkabout, El Topo and Aguirre, The Wrath of God.

Bonus Features

Digitally Mastered from the original 35mm camera negative.

Commentary by the director, Rolando Klein.

Stills Gallery.

Original theatrical trailer.

Reviews

"Remarkable!" -Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicler

"Suspenseful. Hypnotic. The unselfconscious performances writer-director Rolando Klein has managed to elicit from his non-professional cast are as astonishing as this highly demanding film'slush, exotic beauty." - Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times