At this point in time, the back of a barn may not be as unlikely a place to look for essential truths about America as when the idea first crossed Raúl O. Paz Pastrana’s mind to make “Backside,” but milling around the Churchill Downs stables in the months leading up to the Kentucky Derby proves to be an inspired vantage point for how the country really works. One could watch the behind-the-scenes documentary and simply marvel at the preparation that goes into an event that lasts all of two minutes as it follows a handful of workers that most closely handle the horses, known as grooms and hotwalkers, but Pastrana sees a less admirable tradition being held up in the 150-year-old horse race simply by training his lens on the staff predominantly made up of Latino immigrants that do much of the heavy-lifting for the event yet come race day are far removed from the track as others enjoy the fruits of their labor.
With the film shot at a Frederick Wiseman-esque observational remove, scenes gallop by as horses do of the dusk till dawn routine of the men and women that lead the stallions into stables and arrange hay inside without an overt central focus, but one starts to emerge as all these activities appear to mirror the continual grind of the economy, with no individual act particularly noteworthy, yet each required to keep it all going. It’s unforgiving, of course, when you hear of workers just barely avoiding getting kicked in the head and horses swing their heads wildly when getting bathed, behavior that not even the jockeys have to spend as much time enduring and as the workers tenderly look after the animals and evidently not offered the same treatment in return from their higher-ups to go by their humble means at home, the value system comes into stark view. (One of the most telling moments of the film is when an elderly gaucho explains why he gives those in his care candy, saying “To me, they’re not horses, they’re co-workers,” clearly meaning it with affection, but the terminology is infected by the demands of the job.)
Although “Backside” is rarely obvious in its intentions, it does find a voice for putting what it captures in a grander context in Harold, a longtime Black employee of Churchill Downs who seems to have seen it all as the profession was passed down to him by his father for whom the work was a genuine passion. While Harold can recall being told stories about horses before going to bed rather than “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” he also speaks to the developers that have escalated property values around the track making it more unaffordable for the working class and the push for a union that hasn’t been entirely unsuccessful, but usually ends up costing its fiercest advocates their jobs.
His occasional voiceover underlines a growing divide in the film that would seem difficult to capture but nonetheless Pastrana gets his arms around as what you’re seeing is really two worlds coexisting rather than one, not only when Spanish is the primarily language spoken around the stables and English is heard the closer you get to the track. When the pageantry of the Kentucky Derby (which is only ever alluded to rather than depicted) can be compared to the bespoke Day of the Virgin Guadalupe celebration that the workers assemble on their own, the extent that the celebration is further away from everyday life becomes a reflection of how big people are allowed to dream, depending on their socioeconomic station. “Backside” inevitably culminates in the big race, but it isn’t accompanied by the usual fanfare when following the workers who are sidelined by design and while there’s still excitement amongst them, the deprivation of the full experience is crushing even as their ability to make the best of it is undeniably admirable. Those two minutes can feel like an eternity when you’re part of the chase, and in “Backside,” Pastrana shows it really could be.
“Backside” will screen again at the Tribeca Festival at the AMC 19th St. East 6 on June 8th at 8:45 pm and June 14th at 3 pm.