Danish environmental documentarian Robin Petre follows up FROM THE WIDE SEA, with her study of wildfire prone Spain in ONLY ON EARTH, in competition for the Grierson Documentary prize at the year's BFI London Film Festival.
I can see why it was nominated. She beautifully captures the stunning Galician landscape and has an eye for framing the almost alien wind turbines that now grace its ridges. It is ironic that these interlopers, no doubt earnestly erected to save the environment, have become monstrous invasions of a delicate ecosystem that had for centuries protected Spain from wildfires. There are lots of shots where we see them looming over the landscape, utterly out of scale with the wild horses beneath, scored with an eery metallic droning audio design.
The real focus of the documentary is the beautiful wild horses, uniquely designed to feast on the tough gorse of this region, becoming rarer as their inhabit is made more inhospitable. And with no-one to eat the gorse, and climate change creating more and more extreme heat, the area is now prone to the wildfires shown in the stunning photograph above.
Petre tells her story by centring the animals - but also showing us the people who try to live with them and in this environment, whether firefighters, veterinarians or aspiring cowboys. It feels rather hopeless. The investigative firefighter warns of what is happening and is utterly unsurprised when the fires start. This gives the film a melancholy tone. But I must admit to have being rather bored during the running time. How many shots of ominous wind turbines can we see? I think I would rather have had the stunning visuals as photographs.
ONLY ON EARTH has a running time of 93 minutes. It played the Berlinale. Tickets are still available for all three screenings at the BFI London Film Festival.
No comments:
Post a Comment