Perú: Tesoro Escondido

The abundance of gorgeous photography here is definitely eye-catching, but so many shots that linger just a little too long slow the pace way down to the point where it becomes easy to lose interest. Perú: Tesoro Escondido also lacks a truly unifying central story that might hold viewers' interest enough to hang in there with it. The director has opted for breadth instead of depth, so that you actually learn only a little about a lot of different things. Some of the moments that highlight the obvious pride the filmmakers feel toward their country come across like a commercial for an official tourism agency.

But there's that gorgeous scenery and a tremendous diversity in landscapes and environments that viewers of travel shows especially will enjoy. Although we meet a few individuals, individual stories aren't really the focus. But we do get a broad, if kind of shallow, look at the different kinds of people and cultures of Perú. Strongest messages are about understanding and preserving the environment and cultural heritage so they can be passed on to future generations to appreciate, and about how Perú is a model country others should follow when it comes to celebrating and preserving diverse cultures, along with the pride that comes from belonging to a unified whole.