BIRD BOX: BARCELONA
Spain, 2023, 112 minutes, Colour.
Mario Caas, Georgina Campbell, Naila Schuberth, Alejandra Howard, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Diego Calvia, Patrick Criado, Lola Duenas, Gonzalo de Castro, Michelle Jenner.
Directed by David Pastor, Alex Pastor.
The 2014 novel, Bird Box, written by Josh Malerman was filmed in 2018 with Sandra Bullock leading a strong star cast. Produced by Netflix, it was one of its major successes. Five years later comes this variation on the novel, directed and written by the Pastor brothers, with the novelist and Suzanne Bier, director of the original, acting as producers. It is a Spanish production but has Spanish and English, with some German, dialogue. It is set in Barcelona, striking images of empty streets, dust and debris blowing in the wind, piles of crashed vehicles.
The premise of this apocalyptic story is that some entities have come to earth, mysterious, destructive, causing widespread panic all over the world, blindness to millions of people, and a compulsion to graphic suicides. Survivors have to put on dark glasses and blindfolds not to be infected. The only hope is to reach the castle above Barcelona where the survivors have set up laboratories to try to find some kind of antidote to this plague.
The film is very striking in its action sequences and energy drama. It begins puzzlingly, a father and daughter walking the streets, encountering straggling files of the blind, the father ingratiating himself with a group, their tending to him, and then his driving a bus out of the dark factory onto the roads, crashing, their being killed, images of light seen ascending towards the sky. The father, played by Spanish star, Mario Casas (often seen in Spanish thrillers and historical films) has a strong bond with his daughter, Anna (Alejandra Howard). We are mystified. What of the explanations of the father and daughter? The plague?
Interspersed throughout the narrative are several flashbacks to the months before the opening events, building up some explanation of what has happened. In the first flashback, nine months earlier, there are some spectacular sequences of the impact of the plague, the graphic suicides and blindness, the father, in the streets, in the underground, crowds and panic. And, his wife is killed by an out-of-control car.
Gradually the mystery develops, the father, Sebastian, able to see without glasses, not blinded, continuing to ingratiate himself, this time with a sympathetic group, led by psychiatrist, Clare (Georgina Campbell), looking after a young German girl who has lost her mother, Sofia, some young professional men and an elderly couple. More flashbacks to some months earlier, especially Sebastien and his daughter going to a church, the encounter with a strange priest who is caught up in a heavenly interpretation of the plague, eager to see God and draw others to this vision. Later, the priest will appear in deadly confrontations with Sebastien.
But, in the interaction with Claire and Sophia, Sebastien who is now named as one of the special people affected by the invading entity who is not blinded but is given strange powers of site, “Seers”. Part of his vision is of his daughter, reappearing, urging her father to kill everyone so that they can be saved. Ultimately, there are some dramatics and melodramatics with Sofia and Claire, Sebastien’s change of heart, his helping them, and a final confrontation with the priest.
The film ends in the Castle, the military, the survivors, the laboratories, and the anticipation that the scientist will find some kind of antidote to haul this dramatic apocalyptic.
The basic tale transfers effectively to the city of Barcelona.
1. The original novel? Apocalyptic? The 2018 version? American? Popularity? The Spanish adaptation, the core of the original novel, Spanish perspectives?
2. The premise of the story, the invasion of alien entities, destructive, the manifestations, birds flapping wings, leaves and debris in the street rising, the panic amongst the population, blindness, suicides, the media commentaries and warnings, the mass destruction and deserted streets, survivors binding their eyes, in darkened buildings, no windows? The message to get to the Castle for safety?
3. The visuals, the city of Barcelona and its landmarks, the streets, the water, buildings? The underground? The destruction, abandoned streets, litter in the streets, the piles of crashes? Ultimately the tower, the cable cars, the Castle and safety? The musical score?
4. The structure of the film, the events, the focus on Sebastien and Anna and their activities, the mystery, origins? The flashbacks, nine months earlier, Sebastien as an engineer, news of the suicides on site, rushing back to the city, the visuals of panic, the underground station on the trains, the cars crashing on the streets, Sebastien, the phone calls to his wife, risking his daughter from school, his wife crossing the street, the planned escape, her being killed by the runaway car? And his death?
5. The present, Sebastien, his appearance, Anna with him, the abandoned city, seeing the group, his tagging along, his being bashed by the thieves, his being tended to, the group of survivors, sleeping in the bus, his getting the keys, driving the bus, through the streets, the crash, the puzzle of the survivors, blindness, deaths? Supported by Anna?
6. The further flashbacks, and Anna and Sebastien, the encounter with the priest, the church, his fanaticism, religious language?
7. Sebastian continuing in the present, the next group, clear, English-speaking, psychiatrist, and memories of the death of her brother and hearing his voice, Sofia, German, separated from her mother, the elderly couple, memories of the past, reconciliation and love, the young men, the background, Octavio and his explanation using physics to explain the entities? Rafa, his death? Sebastien, urged on by Anna, his giving his daughters emblem to Sofia, his change of heart, the death of the men, the elderly couple, rescuing Sofia and Clare, taking them out, the car, taking them to the entry to get the cable car, the climbing the tower?
8. Anna, confronting her father, his being identified as a “seer”, his mission to save as many possible, ultimately encountering the priest, the conversation about wolves in sheep’s clothing, the fanaticism of the priest and his associates, echoes of cult leaders and power, Sebastien and his fight with the priest, each killing the other? Anna and her condemnation of her father?
9. Clare and Sofia, climbing the tower, the cable cars, judging when to jump, their travelling to safety, the soldiers, Sofia’s mother, the scientists, the experiment, DNA and the hope for an antidote?
10. An urban story of horror and apocalyptic?
