February 12. 2014
The
Portland Observer
Black History Month
Page II
Vancouver
East County
Alberta
North Portland
Screens Come to Life
Portland International
Film Festival gets past
weather warnings
The Portland International Film Festival trudges on
through all kinds of weather - and I found a decent turnout
at the screenings I attended on Saturday, though Sunday’s
screenings were cancelled after emergency warnings went
out encouraging Portlanders to stay home.
These interesting films (which I have rated on a 10-point
scale) will all screen again during the festival: •
"The Apostle" (6.5) is a darkly humorous window into a
part o f Spanish culture seldom seen by Americans. It's a stop-
motion animation story set in a remote Galician mountain
village whose denizens are all aged and whose friendliness
seems a bit aggressive.
Ramon, an escaped convict, poses as a religious pilgrim
as he passes through the village but is really looking for a
stash of jewels hidden there years earlier. He's no hero, but
he might be when compared to the village denizens, who
seem to be up to no good.
The story takes a bit too much time to unfold into its more
suspenseful third act, but the film is never boring, and
provides a quirky look into a world of spirits and superstition
that is characteristic of Galician culture.
The plot probably doesn't really hold up to much scrutiny
but is still entertaining, and features a wonderfully atmo
spheric soundtrack composed by Philip Glass. (Plays again
on Feb. 19)
"O f Horses and Men" (7) is a surprisingly engaging set
of stories involving relationships between horses and people
in a hamlet in Iceland. It features beautiful shots of the
Icelandic countryside and close-ups of the horses that
capture their taut grandeur.
The film opens with a proud and fastidious man and his
connection to his beautiful mare; he attracts the attention of
everyone in the village as he rides her, perfectly erect,
through the community to visit his lady friend - and then he
is horrified by an unwanted encounter with the woman's
stallion (a particularly stunning sequence).
Other stories unfold involving a man who rides his horse
into the sea, on a mission to procure vodka from a Russian
trawler; a young Swedish woman who demonstrates that she
is the boss of all the horses in this horse-friendly town; and
the dilemma faced by a Spanish-speaking tourist who gets
separated from his riding group as the sun goes down.
“O f Horses and Men” is never less than arresting, and also
captures the quirky, dry humor of this stark Icelandic com
munity. A must see, especially for those who appreciate
horses. (Plays again on Feb. 12)
‘The Apostle, ’ a stop-motion animation film rooted in Spanish culture, and one of more than 125 films fea
tured at the Portland International Film Festival, has an encore screening scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19
"W e a re the Best!" (4) is less successful. It focuses on
the friendship between two 13-year-olds in Sweden in 1982
who decide to form a punk band even though neither plays
a musical instrument. They eventually find a third girl with
actual musical talent to join them, and encounter a few
trumped up obstacles due to that girl's religious family's
objections. Otherwise there isn't much in the way o f a plot;
instead, we are treated to scene after scene of the girls
giggling and complaining about their parents and scheming
about their band and playing terrible punk music.
“We are the Best!” quickly becomes tiresome, even though
the kids are sympathetic and intermittently engaging. (Plays
again on Feb. 12)
I am a sucker for any film that gives a voice to people who
have been silenced or forgotten. "A World Not Ours" (8),
my favorite of the festival so far, does just that. The director
of this documentary, Mahdi Fleifel, grew up mostly in Eu
rope, but has made regular visits all his life to Ain el-Hel weh,
a Palestinian refugee settlement inside Lebanon. Building on
a long family tradition of documenting everything on video,
the filmmaker takes advantage of his family's extensive video
archive to provide us with a window into the community
where his 82-year-old grandfather has lived for more than 60
years.
What we find is a world of forgotten people, consigned to
a sort of limbo in which they are not allowed to work or aspire
to anything. Watching the light slowly dim in the eyes of the
director's grandfather, uncle, and a young friend is pro
foundly sad and provokes necessary reflection on those left
continued
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