UN LUGAR LEJANO (A FARAWAY PLACE)
Venezuela, 2009, 105 minutes, Colour.
Erich Wilpret, Mirella Mendoza, Tristan Ulloa.
Directed by Jose Ramon Novoa.
A Faraway Place is a co-production between Venezuela, Argentina and Spain. The initial sequences were filmed in Venezuela but the majority of the film takes place in Patagonia and was filmed in the remote parts, plains and mountains.
The film focuses on a forty-year-old photographer who has been diagnosed with cancer. A petulant man, his marriage has broken up, he still makes his living by photographing significant events (the film opens with him photographing survivors of a boating accident). However, he has dreams and, in his dreams, he sees a steam engine and wants to identify where it came from. He asks his close friend and associate to search. However, he comes across a document on Patagonia and thinks that Manchuria, the place that he wants to go to, is the remote mining town in Patagonia.
For most of the film, it is his quest to find the town, his collapse in the snow, his being looked after by a young woman who lives in the mountains alone. Finally she takes him to Manchuria. However, it is all in his imagination and he is taken back to hospital. It seems that his cancer has disappeared.
The film is a blend of realism and fantasy. The settings are quite striking, the performance of Erich Wilpret as the dying man combines petulance, illness, love and dependence and finally some kind of redemption and hope. He finally walks into the mountains alone (realistically/in fantasy?).
1.The blend of reality and fantasy, images and dreams? Photographs, memories?
2.A Venezuelan story, set in Venezuela and in Argentina?
3.Urban Venezuela, the city and apartments, the photo gallery? The coast, the accident?
4.The contrast with Patagonia, isolation, the town of Las Calas, winter, the plains, the mountains? The town of Manchuria, the abandoned factory, the steam engine? The carriages?
5.The musical score, lush, a Latin sensibility?
6.Julian, waking up, ill, the job, photographing the accident, his speculations about death?
7.His moods, sending the maid away, demanding that Rocque search for the photo? Interview with the doctor, his health condition? Meeting Lisa, the memories, seeing her in black and white and photographic style? The exhibition and acclaim? His wanting to be away from everyone?
8.Rocque as a friend, Julian hard on him, at the gallery, the photos, the search in the archives? Buying the ticket – and Julian wanting to go alone?
9.Las Calas, Patagonia, the flight, the car, the hotel? The gossiping couple and their suspicions – and the ironic humour of the narrowness of the local couple?
10.The trip, driving, the map, the engine failing, going on the search, in the snow, chased by the animals, his collapse?
11.Finding himself in Maria’s house, her saving him, on the cart? The house, the sheepfold, life on the farm, the mountains, simplicity, Maria’s care, warmth, the meals, the cold shower, the sexual relationship, the story of her parents and the accident, their grave? His taking the photo? His gradual recovery, the horse ride? Maria taking him to Manchuria? Not wanting him to die, getting him to shout and be awake? The level crossing, his dream, the train, himself on the train? The factory, examining it closely, derelict, his taking the photos, collapsing, seeming to die? His mission accomplished?
12.The reality, lying in the snow, rescued, going to the hospital, Rocque visiting, the x-rays, the cancer seeming to have been cured?
13.Saverio, his taking the vehicle, the couple and their commenting as they watched him?
14.His decision to go alone, walking into the snow and the mountains – alive, dead?
