Lovers of the Arctic Circle

To be shown: 12 May 2007

Spain 1998
112 minutes
Director: Julio Medem
Starring: Najwa Nimri, Fele Martinez, Nancho Novo.

Synopsis

Christopher Null captures the essence of this film perfectly when he wrote for filmcritic.com: ‘Eight-year-old Otto (Peru Medem) goes to the school bathroom and lets fly a squadron of paper airplanes in hopes that one of them will reach his newfound girlfriend, Ana (Sara Valiente). Ana attends a school separated from his by only a high wrought iron fence. On each plane he has written the same question about love, one so profound that those finding the planes assume that an adult must have written it. We watch their flight as they glide effortlessly through the air. We see the only one that makes it to her courtyard perfectly framed by a circle in the iron gate. After she reads its inscription, her life is forever transformed.'

Perhaps this should be the start of a shower of well-worn themes and images but the skill of the cast and light touch of the director ensures that this is never the case.

Told over a protracted period of time the audience see Otto and Ana thrown together when their parents marry and split apart as Otto seeks his calling. Drawn together again on a small island in the Arctic Circle they meet once more.

The film is dominated by this circularity to life and the way that the past can influence and impact on the present. Whilst a his and hers re-telling of scenes should be annoying it is not. Where American films use similar techniques they lack the subtle and gentle handling that Medem achieves.

The three sets of leads required to follow their lives fit perfectly as each step forward finds a believable tie to the past.

This is a film to lose yourself to and rediscover why the cinema was considered to be an escape. Some caution is required however: watch it on a big screen and you are likely to need to buy it on DVD.