CINEMA REVIEW: Patagonia

Mar 20, 2011

Written by: Dee Pilgrim

Although based in historical fact this road movie (or more accurately two road movies rolled into one) is a flight of fancy comparing and contrasting the lives of two women; one at the end of her journey and the other just starting out.

In the late 1800s the barren desert of Patagonia was colonised by a small band of Welsh hill farmers fleeing the poverty of their homeland. Flash forward to the present…

…where Gwen (Nia Roberts) is leaving her native Wales with her landscape photographer boyfriend Rhys (Rhys Parry Jones) on a photographic assignment to record the many desert chapels the colonisers have left behind. But Gwen carries with her a secret and as the alien light and landscape of Patagonia disorientate her she finds herself drawing away from Rhys into the arms of their Welsh-speaking Patagonian guide Mateo (Matthew Rhys).
At the same time the elderly Argentine Cerys (Marta Lubos) is travelling to Wales in the company of her young nephew Alejandro (Nahuel Biscayart) on a quest to find the farmhouse where her mother was born. Armed only with a photograph and a name — Nant Briallu — their task seems impossible, but Cerys is nothing but determined and much to the bewilderment of Alejandro they press on by public transport, helped and hindered in equal parts by the locals.
Director Evans certainly has an eye for landscape and the lush harshness of the Welsh hills is very nicely contrasted with the extraordinary light and decaying buildings of Patagonia. However, of the two stories it is that of Cerys and Alejandro that impresses the most, totally eclipsing Gwen’s journey. Cerys and Alejandro’s travels are full of joy and quirky sweetness, a random collection of meetings and fleeting friendships (one of which is with Duffy, acquitting herself honourably in the acting stakes) that speak of the wisdom of old age, the folly of youth, and the lessons learned in between. In the end it is this strand of the film that comes to mean the most and certainly reverberates in the mind most forcefully at its conclusion.

Author: Dee Pilgrim

Dee always knew she wanted to make her living from writing and so trained as a journalist before working for a variety of music and women’s titles including Sounds, Company, Cosmopolitan, Ms London, New Woman, and Girl About Town. After going freelance she concentrated on celebrity interviews and film, theatre, music and restaurant reviews. Her love of film goes back to her very first cinema experience at the age of five when her mother took her to see Bambi. She cried. At one time she was the Film Editor for NOW magazine and also the secretary for the film section of the Critics’ Circle and the celebrity coordinator for its annual film awards’ event. She has written a number of books for teenagers through Trotman Publishing, including five Real Life Guides to vocational careers (including Carpentry, Plumbing and Catering), and also three books on Real Life Issues (Money, Bereavement and Self Harm). Her favourite film is still Bladerunner.