This is a guest post from Chris reviewing Patagonia at the London Film Festival. The Swoop team travelled to London to see the film last friday and thought it was brilliant!
“And so on a crisp autumn afternoon to the Ritzy in Brixton to see Patagonia with an audience of urban adventurers and film aficionados”.
As well as the strong pull of the wild beauty of Patagonia I was drawn by the writings of Bruce Chatwin and by my grandfather’s childhood tales of Michael D Jones and the great Welsh emigration of 1865 to this beautiful land. My amazing grandfather, Tomos ap Rhys (blinded aged 17 in the first world war before going to earn a first class university degree and standing against Lloyd George for Parliament) knew all the stories and would have loved this film for its music and dialogue alone. I remember the stories vividly in his front room overlooking Penrhyn Harbour in Bangor.
Marc Evans, the film’s writer and director, introduced the film and in his gentle Welsh accent told of the inspiration from his memories of tales of Patagonian Welsh speaking cowboys from his primary school teacher. That I shared those memories made the experience doubly emotional.
This is a double road movie. Two stories set in Patagonia and Wales. Two tales of leaving and longing, of love and loss, of unwanted pregnancy and inability to conceive, of plains and valleys and snow capped mountains and relationships between cultures and generations.
A film in Welsh and Spanish with English sub titles probably shouldn’t work but it does, and brilliantly even for this English only speaker. The cast, again a mix of Argentinean and Welsh actors, are of the highest class with brilliant performances from Matthew Rhys, Nia Roberts, Nahuel Pérez and Marta Lubos and a lovely cameo from Duffy. Enjoy the enchanting and baffling Patagonian Welsh accents.
The music is hauntingly beautiful as befits the beautiful landscapes of Patagonia and Wales and I don’t think I was the only one both crying and laughing as the film developed.
The end of the Welsh leg of the road movie is on the 88 bus to Bangor via Caernarfon. It felt like coming home. A full circle completed for me. The end of the Patagonia leg ends with a beautiful shot of the Route 40.
After the screening it was great to chat with cast and crew. The recruitment of Duffy was described – a chat over fish and chips – a cheap date! And the battle to include more wide shots of Patagonian beauty described. The final comment in the Q&A summed it up – ‘Go to Patagonia, it cleanses the mind.’
It’s on release in the UK in March. Enjoy!
More details and information about the Welsh Connection to Patagonia for the curious ones.