Back To Earth

Director Carla Simón

ntil the Spurlings are happy to throw a million euro down the well and reopen The Ormonde, it’s good to know that Greystonians can still get their big-screen kicks.

With recent hits such as Oscar faves Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Quiet Girl having wowed Whale audiences, the Greystones Film Club is back with more festival faves.

Having screened the Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas-led Official Competition in February, for March, it’s Alcarrás (Spain-Italy 12A 120mins), Carla Simón following up her acclaimed debut Summer 1993 with this tale of one family’s battle to save their small Catalonia farm just as this year’s crop of peaches ripens on sun-drenched land now set for solar panels. The son of the recently-deceased property owner chooses the future over an 80-year tradition for the Solés family, despite his late father’s firm handshake.

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Just how the film came together, we decided to find out by asking Ms Simón…

Can you tell us in a few words what Alcarràs is about?
Alcarràs is a chronicle of a death foretold. The Solé family learns they will have to leave the land they’ve cultivated for three generations near the Catalonian country town of Alcarràs at the end of the summer. The owner wants to uproot their peach trees to put solar panels in his fields. The family gathers to pick the last harvest, but their differences about how to face an
uncertain future threaten their unity. This is an ensemble piece where each member of the Solé family tries to find their own place in the crisis, at the very moment when their shared identity is at risk.

What are the main themes which run through Alcarràs?
On one hand, the film is a reflection on agriculture today. Many believe that the land should belong to those who work it, and the Solé family has been farming the same fields for many years. But they only arrived at an unofficial understanding with the owner during the Spanish Civil War. Now a contract is worth more than any verbal agreement, and the new owner wants them to leave. How long can tradition and change coexist in this place?

Human beings have cultivated the land in small family groups since the Neolithic. It’s the oldest job of all time. But the truth is that the Solés’s story comes at a moment when this way of doing agriculture is no longer sustainable. Big companies buy the land to cultivate it extensively, the low fruit prices force the replacement of trees in exchange for higher yield uses, and young farmers leave their homes to try to find other employment. The models are changing, an old world is ending, and our film is a nostalgic tribute to the last families of farmers who still resist. Despite the bad auguries, I hope ecological agriculture will be the bright tomorrow for those who want to keep cultivating the land in small groups.

This is a reflection on the need for adaptation, as we portray the last days of a universe that its inhabitants believed to be eternal. It’s also a reflection on the lack of communication between family members, and how sometimes everything would be easier if we said out loud what we think and how we feel. I often think of Alcarràs as an action movie. There are no explosions, gunfights, or spectacular special effects, but the characters live on an emotional roller coaster that shakes up their relationships.

How did you come up with the idea of this film originally?
My uncles cultivate peaches in Alcarràs. They did it together with my grandfather but he died a few years ago. I spent all my Christmas and summer holidays on their land. Everything lived and shared in this place has a huge emotional value to my family. Suddenly, I felt the need to portray this place, its light, its trees and fields, its people, their faces, the toughness of their job, the heat in the summer… I feel it has a huge cinematic value. A last harvest on this family’s land was a good set up to talk about a world that is about to end.

Alcarràs tells the story of a large family of farmers. Why is this subject so inspiring to you?
My main source of inspiration is my big family; they’re a bottomless source of stories. We very often get together, and I find myself surrounded by grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, siblings… My life has always been full of people. This film was conceived as an ensemble piece due to my desire to portray what it is to be part of a huge family. Crossed dialogues, opposed energies, chaos, small but meaningful gestures, emotional domino effects… Everyone has their own axe to grind, but they all need to find a way to live together.

Why did you choose to work with non-professional actors?
I always look for naturalism in actors. I think the closer the actors are to the characters they play, the more truthful they are. I wanted this film to be played by farmers who work the land, who can understand the idea of losing it. Most of the people of the area of Alcarràs are farmers or come from farmers’ families. I was sure we could find good actors amongst them. Moreover, there are children and teenagers in the cast; they were always going to be natural actors.

Apart from that, this region of Spain speaks a very specific Catalan dialect. There aren’t many actors from the area, and to portray this place faithfully, it was important to respect its language.

To find our actors, we went to every village fair to invite everyone who might fit into our cast to auditions. We saw more than 9,000 people. I was hoping to cast some members of the same family, but this didn’t happen, every member of the Solé family comes from a different village. So we spent a lot of time together, improvising moments in order to build their relationships.

Your film takes place in Alcarràs, a municipality located in Catalonia, in Spain. Although the setting is very specific, what is universal about your story?
We all have family, all of us can relate to family stories. In the end, you don’t choose your family: you are born into it. That is why family relationships are so complex and deep, so full of contradictions and so unconditional at the same time. Also, agriculture is something that affects us all; it’s what we get to eat every day. Thinking about who provides us with food and how they do it is something we should all do. Structurally, the replacement of traditional farming by the agricultural industry is a world-wide phenomenon.

The first Catalan-language film to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, Alcarrás is one of those films that succeeds beautifully in telling its fable without, it seems, ever breaking a sweat. This is about place rather than plot, about the hum of everyday life rather than the death rattle of the old being pushed aside for the new. You will be moved. If you dare use your phone. Hitting The Whale on Thursday, March 9th at 8pm, trailer here, tickets here. Your €12 entry comes with a free bucket of freshly-popped popcorn.

You can find out more about the Greystones Film Club here, and about what else is going on at The Whale over here.