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DVD Patagonia
 Run time: 119 min Rating: 6.7 Genres: Adventure | Drama Director: Marc Evans Writers: Laurence Coriat, Marc Evans Stars: Matthew Rhys, Marta Lubos, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart |
| Storyline A young Welsh couple travel to Argentina to work on their relationship. |
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| Details: Country: Argentina, UK Release Date: 4 March 2011 (UK) |
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4 comments
I saw this film without knowing much about it except that there was a migration of some Welsh people from Europe to Patagonia in the 1865. There are two stories unfolding simultaneously in the present day; one of a Welsh couple travelling in Patagonia and the other of an elderly grandmother and her teenage nephew travelling in Wales in search of her mother's farm. Each story is utterly convincingly told, amid breathtaking textures of Argentinan and Walsh landscapes and although there is no connection at all between them, the two stories balance each other perfectly in the way the relationships develop.
This film is of course in Spanish and Welsh but is intelligently subtitled in English so as not to damage the film's beauty.
If you are sick and tired of contrived Hollywood productions with cliché plots and badly written lines, then Patagonia is the perfect antidote which will restore your faith in the power and beauty of cinema.
The fact that this film was produced by S4C in collaboration with smaller independent production companies means that it has the freedom to explore the themes without using a stale Hollywood formula. We follow two different couples on their journey from Wales to Argentina and vice versa: the Welsh Gwen and Rhys who go to Patagonia and the odd couple Cerys and Alejandro who go in search of Cerys' mother's farm 'Nant Briallu' in Wales. I'm not sure if it is fair to classify this as a 'road trip' movie – but it is certainly the best road trip movie ever made.
The theme about displacement and dislocation is beautifully executed in this film – the characters in Argentina speak only in Welsh and the characters in Wales speak mostly in Spanish. Even singer Duffy makes a valiant and commendable effort to speak Spanish as Sissy – the Spanish- speaking local love interest of Alejandro. This all relates to the fact that Cerys' mother sent in exile to Argentina to hide the face that she was an unwed mother. For those of you who are sick and tired of American films which are so afraid of any subtitles because the American audience doesn't like to read subtitles (which often results in the most unlikely characters speaking English with a ridiculous foreign accent) – you can breathe a sigh of relief when you come to see Patagonia. The Welsh people tend to speak Welsh and very little English and the English are forced to read the subtitles.
The two couples never meet, their paths never cross – the way you'd expect things to be conveniently tied up at the end of a Hollywood movie; and the movie is better off for that. One is treated to amazing cinematography which benefits from Patagonia's amazing desolate landscape and Wales' green rolling hills.
There is great humour in the movie – but most of all, the magic of the movie as carried by the odd couple Cerys and Alejandro who grow closer together as they journey through Wales and there is a genuine warmth to their relationship. Argentinian actress Marta Lubos stole the show as the somewhat batty but still utterly lovable Cerys – tough, resilient, stubborn yet charming all at the same time, she is the grandmother everyone would love to have.
The film takes you on an emotional journey – but having said that, I think I ended up caring more about Cerys and Alejandro on their quest to find Nant Briallu; after all, it seemed pretty clear what was going to happen to Rhys and Gwen from the moment they landed in Patagonia. Nonetheless, what the Argentinian plot lacked in substance, it more than made up in sheer beauty.
If you watch this film, you will leave the cinema wanting to improve your Spanish, learn Welsh (if you do not already speak Welsh) and most of all, you will desire to travel to Wales and Patagonia. Few films will leave you with such a strong yearning – and both the Welsh and Patagonian tourist boards own the makers of this film a big cheque for the amount of visitors as a direct result of this film.
In short, go see this film – it'll probably be the best film you would see in 2011. No 3D glasses, no special effects, no Hollywood big stars – just an incredibly compelling and touching story of human emotion. This is what the magic of cinema is all about. Who needs 3D glasses?
For me, the parallel story lines worked very well. I would say though, that I might not expect non-Welsh people to enjoy this anywhere near as much.
The cinematography both in Argentina and Wales is gorgeous, but the story could maybe be difficult to engage with for others. For a start, it's mostly in Welsh or Spanish. English people rarely respond well to Welsh efforts to assert their culture so don't expect any different here. The part of the story that revolve around the Llyn Celyn reservoir was unexpected and subtly done – but again I wouldn't expect English viewers to understand or respond well to this. Who wants to hear that an ancient Welsh villages were drowned so that England could have more industrial water supplies?
I watched this fully expecting to be bored witless but the flipping between the two tales creates a sustainable pace and saved what could have been prosaic stories.
Well done Marc Evans!
Watched this on its Welsh TV premiere as I now live in Wales (although I am not a Welsh speaker). The film was a pleasure to watch compared to much of the Hollywood fare that is served up and is certainly worth watching.
However, I have to agree with the previous reviewer that the film was ruined for my by the ridiculous endings to both stories particularly after the Grandmother died in Wales. It was completely ludicrous and ruined what could have been a much better film.
On the positive side listen out for Duffy (who appears in the film) singing a Spanish version of Hope There's Someone the beautiful Antony and The Johnsons track at the very end of the film.