The 12th annual European Film Festival SA is under way, with screenings in Johannesburg and Cape Town, while five of the 10 films on the programme are also available via streaming.
I had the good fortune to watch previews of The North, from the Netherlands and French contribution The Mohican — though both, like a number of the participating films, are transnational and multilingual works that undermine simplistic ideas of “nationhood” (thus subverting the ethno-nationalist populism that continues to threaten Europe).
The North is written and directed by Dutchman Bart Schrijver, and one of its pair of protagonists (Chris, played by Bart Harder) is Dutch, but the film’s sparse dialogue is mostly in English, it is set in the epic landscape of the Scottish highlands and its other main character (Lluis, played by Carles Pulido) is Hispanic. The Mohican plays out in the equally dramatic setting of Corsica, where the island’s inhabitants have, over centuries, merged Italian and French cultural and linguistic identities.
Both films are dominated by the vast natural elements of mountain and ocean, as well as the signs of human attempts to tame or traverse them: pastures and pathways, boats and lighthouses. The quiet heroes are battered by wind and rain, get lost in the dark, wince at the sun. Their surroundings are apt for what become terse but titanic battles between tradition and modernity, between old ways of being and the ineluctable pull of the new — all reinscribing a set of ancient, eternal human needs and weaknesses.
The Mohican pits a modest goat farmer (Joseph, played by Alexis Manenti) against Corsican mafiosos who want his land to expand their development of coastal villas, resorts and other construction projects. Hovering in the background is the island’s long history of invasion and faltering resistance, its spirit of fierce independence unable to successfully counter the economic and political forces at play on the Mediterranean mainland.
On the run from gangsters, Joseph becomes a champion of Corsicans who are fed up with conspicuous wealth and corruption. It is a burden he did not ask for, and it is a heavy one to carry, though he is aided by his social media-savvy niece and a stern brotherhood of fellow goatherds. The Mohican draws on the “one good man” and “David versus Goliath” Western movie tropes, but it does not offer the viewer a Hollywood-style resolution (this is a French film, after all). Instead, as we are left watching Joseph limp into the wilderness, we wonder how long he will survive.
It is an image reminiscent of much of The North, though the plucky wanderers in that film are confronting more subtle foes: inner demons rather than gun-wielding goons. Chris and Lluis are best friends — or rather, they used to be. Over the course of 10 years, they have drifted apart, but they reunite for a great adventure: hiking 600km along Scotland’s West Highland Way and the Cape Wrath Trail.
Chris isn’t able to commit himself fully to the experience, remaining connected to work and home responsibilities via his phone except in the most remote areas. Lluis, despite his enthusiasm for the journey, can’t quite get his act together: nursing injuries, sleeping late in the mornings, doing nightly battle with a leaking inflatable mattress. They talk little, and when they do, conversation is strained. They bicker more and more, struggling to find common ground in shared rituals like playing Uno.
The friendship seems close to dissipating. They are on separate paths — figuratively and, for days at a time, literally. Lluis’ difficulties are unclear; Chris’ apparent selfishness is not entirely explicable. As we slowly piece together pictures of their respective preoccupations from fragmentary exchanges, the film builds not to a climax but to a moment of catharsis and solidarity.
The North is an astonishing piece of cinematography, its highland vistas matched by exquisite sound editing that captures every crunching footstep, the click of a trekking pole, a tent zip, a camp stove — in fact, every rustle and squeak of life on the trail. It is an immersive sensory and meditative experience that will stay with you long after the end credits.
• The European Film Festival SA runs from October 9-19. To access the website click here.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.