Shadows on the Wall | Arthouse Films

Shadows off the beaten path
Indies, foreign, docs and shorts...

On this page: THE ECHO | NEVER LOOK AWAY | A STORY OF BONES

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 31.Jul.24

The Echo El Eco
Review by Rich Cline | 4/5

dir-scr Tatiana Huezo
prd Tatiana Huezo, Dalia Reyes
with Montserrat Hernandez Hernandez, Luz Maria Vazquez Gonzalez, Sarahi Rojas Hernandez, Maria de los Angeles Pacheco Tapia, Faviola Hernandez Lira, Berenice Cortes Munoz, William Antonio Vazquez, Andrea Gonzalez Lima, Tania Rojas Hernandez, Humberto Rojas Hernandez, Viliulfo Vazquez Hernandez, Uriel Hernandez Hernandez
release US May.23 siff,
Mex Oct.23 ficm, UK 26.Jul.24
23/Mexico 1h42

BERLIN FILM FEST

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Dramatically well shot in gorgeous locations, this immersive Mexican documentary explores life in a remote mountain village called El Eco. Filmmaker Tatiana Huezo assembles this with such skill that it feels like narrative storytelling, following three generations of engaging people in three families. Largely seen through the eyes of brightly curious children who echo the experiences of their parents, this film offers a riveting glimpse into their culture.

In a rainy, verdant valley, teen Montse spends her days herding sheep on horseback and tending to the corn crop, working with her parents while her younger brothers watch. She is also charged with caring for granny Angeles. Meanwhile preteen Luz Ma works alongside her mother and her tiny brother Tonio tending to sheep on the hillsides. When their father returns from his job in the city, he coaches his young son in traditional chauvinistic ways. And the cheeky young Sarahi takes school so seriously that she plays a teacher to her toys at home.

Filming over 18 months, Huezo finds terrific threads running through the lives of Montse, Luz Ma, Sarahi and their families. Each has a distinct dream about their future. Cinematographer Ernesto Pardo beautifully captures both intimate conversations and expansive settings, highlighting their interaction with the changing weather. And editor Lucrecia Gutierrez Maupome evokes lovely rhythms of their daily experiences. Life in this place is demanding, with much of the work falling on women and girls, as responsibilities pass from mother to daughter to granddaughter. Even at school, older children are required to teach younger ones, which of course Sarahi excels at.

Mixing earthy details with humour and emotion, this film is powerfully moving. There are scenes involving both birth and death, and the way knowledge and customs pass down through the generations. "Work is work, it's not easy," says Monte's father as he coaches her in the cornfield. "You have to do it with love." But the boys are taught to ignore the extra labour their mothers and sisters are required to do. This doesn't go unnoticed by Montse, Luz Ma and Sarahi. So it's not surprising that, after a lot of thought, Montse decides to break the pattern and leave.

themes, language, grisliness 23.Jul.24

Never Look Away
Review by Rich Cline | 4/5

dir Lucy Lawless
scr-prd Tom Blackwell, Matthew Metcalfe
with Margaret Moth, Christiane Amanpour, Stefano Kotsonis, Jeff Russi, Yaschinka, Joe Duran, Susan Stein, Jan Wilson, Ross Wilson, Shirley Wilson, Peter Humi, Sausan Ghosheh, Tom Johnson
release US Jan.24 sff,
UK Jun.24 sfl
24/New Zealand 1h25

SUNDANCE FILM FEST

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With a quick pace and a blast of rock-chick energy, this biographical documentary about no-nonsense war-zone journalist Margaret Moth is both entertaining and compelling. As a gifted camera operator with a larger-than-life persona, it seems odd that her story hasn't been told before. Actor-turned-director Lucy Lawless skilfully fuels the narrative with Moth's distinctive energy, reflected in interviews with colleagues, partners and family members, as well as her unblinking footage.

Born in New Zealand, Margaret erases her painful past by changing her name, adopting a goth persona and moving halfway around the world to Houston, where she shacks up with high schooler Jeff. Her skill with a camera and fearlessness leads to work with CNN in 1991 Kuwait. Now based in Paris, she has an on-off relationship with sound recordist Yaschinka. Then after being badly injured by sniper fire in Sarajevo, she fights back defiantly and goes on to cover wars for another 16 years. She died from cancer in 2010 at age 59.

Moth's fearless approach to her work resulted in powerful battlefield footage that reveals the staggeringly high cost of war for innocent civilians. Skilfully edited together, this film interspersed her clips with interviews and snapshots that offer new context to each conflict she covered. And this gets even more meaningful as people speak about Moth's personal life, with her polyamorous relationships and terrifying childhood, which is depicted in her grim drawings and through interviews with three of her siblings.

Cleverly, filmmaker Lawless infuses the entire film with Moth's sparky personality and deadpan sense of humour, using witty musical choices and refusing to shy away from the more colourful things about this iconic woman. So the photos and clips of her personal life have a strong impact, largely because of what they say about how she approached her work. And it's important to acknowledge how Moth's singular approach changed the game for everyone.

themes, language, violence 5.Jun.24

A Story of Bones
Review by Rich Cline | 4/5

A Story of Bones
dir Joseph Curran, Dominic Aubrey de Vere
prd Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo
with Annina Van Neel, Peggy King Jorde, Lisa Phillips, Philip Rushbrook, Noah Van Neel Hayes, Cruyff Buckley, Gavin Ellick, Tammy Williams, Mike Olsson, Jeremy Harris, Adam Sizeland, Victoria Smalls
release US Jun.22 tff,
UK 2.Aug.24
22/UK 1h35

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A rare glimpse into a British community on a tropical island, this documentary explores long-erased colonial history that connects Africa with Europe and the Americas. Important, riveting and intensely personal, the film explores how people wilfully ignore uncomfortable history, so it's also a striking portrait of ingrained racism. Depicting how these things keep happening over and over again, this powerful movie is a rallying cry for a global issue.

Moving to the isolated South Atlantic island of Saint Helena in 2011, Annina takes a job as environmental officer during the construction of the island's first airport, knowing that human remains would be discovered as the project moved forward. When 325 bodies are displaced by the airport road then left in a storage shed for nearly 10 years, Annina decides something needs to be done. But no one wants to confront this particular past. And these newly discovered graves represent burials of some 10,000 Africans "liberated" from slave ships but never allowed to return home.

It's astonishing that so few acknowledge what Annina has discovered: a clear connection between these bones and the community living here today. The same thing happened in the 1980s, and those hundreds of bodies have never been properly buried either. Against this silent opposition, Annina contacts Peggy, who took action in 1990 New York when an African burial ground was disturbed by construction. "For me it's a no-brainer," Peggy says. "You don't turn your back on something like this."

Tellingly, people are more concerned about delays to the airport's opening, because it will boost tourism for the local economy. Until now, visitors have had to travel by boat to see Napoleon's prison and empty grave, the only history anyone knows about this island. Of course, Napoleon lived here when the Africans arrived. More than 30,000 slaves passed through Saint Helena in the 19th century, a third of them children, and their story has never been told.

At the centre of the film, Annina is compelling and passionate, intent on teaching her young son Noah to respect history while finding a suitable final resting place for these people. "Where's the lesson learnt?" she asks, frustrated by government inaction. "We have to do away with this disconnect." Of course, this raises additional important questions about how much say the local council has in making decisions for an island still ruled by Britain. And because this is happening all over the world, the film has an urgent global resonance.

themes, language, imagery 31.Jul.24

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL