April 3, 2004

By Don Houston

Film Movement is a company dedicated to the release of interesting independent films from all over the world. While I haven't seen all of their releases, both Inch Allah Dimanche and Ginger And Cinnamon were among my favorite indie releases of the past year. The company essentially takes notable films from directors that are often overlooked and provides them with a means to distribute some very well made movies that otherwise might only be available at film festivals, keeping them out of reach for many folks. Their latest release is a little gem by the name of Carol's Journey (the fourteenth release in the FilmMovement series).

The movie is a close look at the Spanish Civil War through the eyes of a young girl, Carol (Clara Lago), who is brought to Spain by her mother during the end of the war, just in time for WWII to begin. Her mother is sick and wants her family to look after her while her American father fights the good fight in the war, much to the chagrin of his wife. The family has a lot of issues with the situation, not least of which is who will take care of the adventurous young girl in a time when the world seems to be coming apart at the seams. Along the way, she meets several local boys, most of which tease and trouble her, until they become close friends. One of them, Tomiche (Juan Jose Ballesta), becomes especially important to her as she tries to send mail to her father, a task made extremely difficult by the trying times. Tomiche is also a handful to those around him although for different reasons and the film spends a fair amount of time on the coming of age aspects of the two preteens looking to make sense of a war that divided a nation on the brink of far bigger battles to come.

The box cover described the movie like this: "Carol, a twelve-year-old Spanish-American girl from New York, travels with her mother to Spain in the spring of 1938, at the height of the Civil War. Separated from her beloved father, Carol arrives in her mother's home village and transforms the secretive family environment. Her innocence and rebellious nature drive her at first to reject a world that is at once new and foreign. But she soon journeys into adulthood through a friendship with Maruja, the village teacher, and a young local boy, Tomiche."

I found a lot to like here. From the character development to the direction of the story, there was a tone established that rang true. I haven't read the novel it was based on "A Boca De Noche" by Angel Roldan must be quite a treat to read. War movies that focus on the big picture, you know the kind I mean (Hollywood Blockbuster's like Pearl Harbor, Midway, A Bridge Too Far and others), are fine in their place but the personal message of this type of film drives much deeper into our hearts as the events unfold in such a manner as to remind us that life goes on as much as war comes at a greater cost than we tend to realize.

I think the director, Imanol Uribe, put it best in the liner notes for the movie when he discussed the film: "I wanted to tell a story to my two daughters (ages nine and twenty-four). It seemed to me a challenge to make a film with children, in which important and serious things are counted," says Uribe.
The love of Carol by her father attracted Uribe to the story: "The girl lives with the family of her mother in a town of people on one side of the Spanish Civil War, while her father is a pilot for the International Brigades which is working for the other side. The stubborn defense of the girl by her father is a passionate story.
The casting of Carol was laborious, because it required a twelve year old girl born of a Spanish mother and North American father. "We had to decide what image we wanted - if she were an Anglo-Saxon or Spanish girl. We worked for months considering the Anglo-Saxon aspect of her--Don Houston/ DVD Talk - Review

FLICKHEAD

March 11, 2004

Don't be deceived by its appearance: impeccably shot and edited, rife with obvious musical cues, it may be typically mainstream to the eye and ear. But El Viaje de Carol (Carol's Journey) has an innate appreciation for the emotional vibrancy of youth and love. Set in Spain in 1938, during the Maelstrom of the civil war, it subtly addresses the political and societal ethics which can also break hearts.
In a small provincial village, twelve-year-old Carol arrives from New York with her mother to live with her grandfather. From the start, the film branches off into a number of subplots: Carol's relationship with the old man, her budding romance with a local ne'er-do-well, her American father's impression on the town's bigots, her mother's illness, and the looming menace of Franco. Ángel García Roldán has crafted an intricate story that broaches the subjects of loneliness and displacement, political upheaval, and the threat of change and modernization on respected values and cherished traditions . . . to say nothing of its warm embrace of the ordeal of growth and maturity.
Cinematographer Gonzalo F. Berridi and director Imanol Uribe have effectively captured this childhood idyll awash in emerald greens and earth tones, and imbue the picture with a nostalgic flavor. Uribe had previously worked from screenplays about the convergence of disparate themes and cultures — Días contados (Running Out of Time,1994) is an interesting slant on terrorism, and Bwana (1996) deals with illegal African immigrants seeking refuge in Spain. But the director's respect for location and the personalities of his characters is most evident in El Viaje de Carol.
He's brought together a cast of exceptional actors. As Carol, eleven-year-old newcomer Clara Lago extends beyond the boundaries of her age; on screen for most all of the picture, she carries it effortlessly. Tomboyish and demure, we're drawn to this remote child by her soft charm and pacifist nature. Playing her first love, Juan José Ballesta is interesting to watch: as the young actor's limited experience clashes with the resourcefulness required of his role, the tragic, rootless character becomes all the more believable. And seen briefly as Carol's mother, María Barranco reminds us that her stunning presence has been woefully underused in twenty-plus-years of (mostly) thankless character parts.
Void of the saccharine cuteness and exaggerated pathos that blights so many 'family films,' El Viaje de Carol is a charming fable, and not easily forgotten.