Irati (3½ Stars)

This is the tenth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

First of all I have to apologise for possibly rating this film too low. It's a magical fantasy story of epic proportions, visually appealing, but I had difficulty understanding what was happening. Was it pure fantasy, or partially based on real events? After the film I read about the film, and the historical background was explained in detail. If I'd known this before the film started I could have enjoyed it more. So I'll definitely give it another chance.

Eneko is a young boy, the son of a chieftain in the Pyrenees. While walking in the forest he sees a beautiful sea nymph seduce a man and persuade him to go into a deep lake. He's interrupted by a girl his own age who looks human apart from having webbed feet.

After the death of his father, Eneko is denied leadership of the clan because his father was a pagan and now only Christian leaders are accepted. His cousin becomes chieftain in his place. Eneko's father was buried according to pagan customs, but he wants to dig up his bones and give him a Christian burial. Unfortunately, the bones have been taken, Eneko sets out on a quest to find his father's remains, assisted by Irati. There's a romance between the two, but Eneko holds himself back. He's converted to Christianity, and he can't have a wife who isn't human.

It's a fascinating story. The critics love it, and it has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I really need to watch it again.

Errementari (4 Stars)

This is only the second Basque film I've ever watched. The film's title means "The Blacksmith".

In a Spanish civil war in 1835 a blacksmith called Francisco Patxi is captured as a deserter and sentenced to death by firing squad. He makes a deal with the Devil: he sells his soul in exchange for being allowed to go home and see his wife. This makes him temporarily bulletproof, and he slaughters the soldiers who want to execute him. But as is always the case when someone makes a deal with the Devil, he doesn't get what he wants. He returns home to his wife, but he's been reported dead, and his wife has already married another man. He murders the new husband, and his wife hangs herself out of grief. He wants to murder his wife's new-born baby girl, but he repents and gives her to the village priest as an orphan.

A demon called Sartael is sent to collect the blacksmith's soul, but Patxi overpowers him and keeps him locked in a cage. The blacksmith is feared as a Satan worshipper, so nobody in the village ever speaks to him. In 1843 a government official is sent to ask Patxi about the whereabouts of gold lost in the war. At the same time the orphaned girl Usue strays into Patxi's house, not knowing that he's her step-father. She unwittingly frees Sartael from the cage.

As a horror film "Errementari" isn't particularly terrifying, although it does have a few shock moments. The scene where Patxi enters Hell is the most chilling portrayal of Hell that I've ever seen. The film is difficult to pin down to a single genre. It's a fantasy story, and it also has elements of a fairy tale.

The film is distributed by Netflix, so it's easily accessible to my readers wherever they live. It's only been released on disc in Spain.

Urte Berri On, Amona (4½ Stars)

The Toxic Matriarchy, or a Tale of three Marys.

Maritxu lives with her husband Joxemari and her 88-year-old mother Mari. Maritxu feels morally obliged to look after her mother since she is now demented. She no longer speaks, apart from shouting Maritxu's name when she needs help. In the opening scenes we see Maritxu helping her mother onto the toilet, but as soon as she turns her back Mari walks out of the toilet and pees on the landing.

Joxemari begs his wife to put Mari in an old people's home, but she refuses. The only way he can get rid of her is to take his wife on holiday and let his daughter Miren and son-in-law Kintxo bring her into a home while they are away. This doesn't last long, because Mari runs away and uses a stolen credit card to stay in a luxury hotel. Miren and Kintxo take Mari into their home, and Kintxo begins to suspect that Mari isn't demented at all, she's just pretending to be ill to make everyone around her suffer. But things go further than even he suspects. She's not just an old woman playing silly pranks, she is pure evil.

The film starts off slowly, and it seems like a comedy. This makes it all the more shocking when we see the depravities to which Mari can sink. First we laugh, and then we gasp as the horrors unfold. This is a very twisted film from the imagination of writer/director Telmo Esnal. Twisted but fascinating. This is his first full length film, and I hope there will be many more.

As far as I know, the film has not been released in English, even though today's showing had English subtitles. The only DVD I could locate is a Spanish release with Spanish subtitles. That's all.