Peach trees of Alcaras ★★★½
DRAMA (2021)
Directed by: Carla Simon
InterpretationsCast: Jordi Puyol Dolcet, Anna Otin

“We wanted to pay a nostalgic, but not sentimental, tribute to the last farming families that are patient and uphold the traditions,” says director Carla Simon.

This year’s Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear arrives in theaters this week to take us on a journey through the Catalan countryside. After all, that’s where Carla Simon took us with her directorial debut (1993), full of childlike innocence, a few years ago. This time it’s more “serious” as we’re in Alcaraz, a small village where a family of peach growers is in the midst of harvest fever. At the same time, however, the entire region, and with it the owner of the land they cultivate, has caught a solar panel fever and is preparing to sell their fields. Nerves and difficult decisions will cause tension between family members, and young and old are called upon to manage the situation. Unlike her previous film, which focused solely on the world of children, here Simon has several actors, from the stressful father of the family to explosive teenagers and children who can turn even misfortune into a game. And there are not many of them. As we have seen in recent decades and in our area, so there the whole world – the rural world – is coming to an end or, in any case, is being transformed, often leaving centuries of tradition behind.

Simone’s film approaches this situation from a socio-political point of view, but does not take a stand or offer simple solutions; her work is an observation that is actually gentle, touching on many occasions as it also comes from her own experiences. . “People have been cultivating the land in family groups since the Neolithic. This is the oldest profession. But the story of Soles comes at a time when this way of farming is no longer sustainable. The real question is what agriculture means to us today. We wanted to pay a nostalgic, not sentimental, tribute to the last peasant families who endure and keep traditions, ”the director herself notes.

In her film, she chose to use amateur actors from the Alcaraz area, thereby giving the ensemble even more authenticity and vitality. This also has in its trump cards wonderful images of green nature and a unique summer, which (also as a spectator) wants to absorb to the last drop.