El Olivo - The olive tree

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Movie
German title El Olivo - The olive tree
Original title El Olivo
Country of production Spain
original language Spanish
Publishing year 2016
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Icíar Bollaín
script Paul Laverty
production Juan Gordon
music Pascal Gaigne
camera Sergi Gallardo
cut Nacho Ruiz Capillas
occupation

El Olivo - The Olive Tree is a Spanish tragic comedy and at the same time a family drama from 2016 . Directed by Icíar Bollaín . The main roles are starring Anna Castillo , Javier Gutiérrez and Pep Ambròs .

action

The young Alma lives with her family on a Spanish farm. The family income is more badly earned by the fattening of chickens and the yield that olive trees bring. In the past, the family suffered many setbacks: Alma fell out with her father, who sold the ancient olive tree on the family's property for 30,000 euros in order to secure the mayor's approval for the construction of a restaurant right on the beach. This went bankrupt after a while. After a bankruptcy as a freight forwarder, Alma's uncle Alcachofa lost both the trucks and his wife, Estrella, and Alma's beloved grandpa stopped speaking when the olive tree was sold against his will.

In Alma's opinion, all of these blows were related to the sale of the family tree. Alma decides to bring the tree back home. After some research, she finds out that it is in the entrance hall of the energy supply company RRR in Düsseldorf and has become part of the company logo as a symbol of sustainability. To get Alcachofa and her admirer Rafa on their way, she invents a story: A German pastor received the tree from a repentant, deceased donor and wanted to give it back to the family.

Over the weekend, Rafa “borrows” a flatbed semi-trailer with a crane from his boss and he, Alma and Alcachofa set off. The closer they get to Düsseldorf, the more uncomfortable Alma becomes. She lied to Rafa and her uncle Alcachofa. Her friends Wiki, an internet specialist, and Adelle are now founding a Facebook group “Save the old olive tree”.

In Düsseldorf, the three of them enter the company headquarters and immediately see: It is their family tree. However, they are immediately taken outside by the security service . Alma's choleric uncle has a tantrum and wants to drive back immediately - with or without Alma. Nevertheless, he comes back and the three Spaniards sit down on a wall opposite the building. You have no plan.

Triggered by the Facebook group, there is a demonstration against RRR. Protesters and the trio enter the entrance hall. Alma immediately climbs up the tree, as she had done as a little girl. Just then the news of the death of her grandfather arrives, with whom Alma always had a special relationship. She wanted to bring back the tree of her childhood for him at all costs.

The three of them return to their village deeply saddened and without a tree. Alma has taken a small branch from her tree that is being ceremoniously planted. But the trip was not in vain, because all of this has led to Estrella finding her way back to Alcachofa, Alma talking to her father again and Rafa being able to raise her hopes again.

Production, background and publication

It is a production by Morena Films in coproduction with the Cologne company The Match Factory under the direction of Viola Fügen and Michael Weber . Piffl Medien GmbH was responsible for the distribution. The film was shot in Spain ( Sant Mateu and the surrounding area), France and Germany (Düsseldorf and Gelsenkirchen). The film was based on an estimated budget of € 4,200,000. On the opening weekend he made € 375,432 in Spain.

Icíar Bollaín said that she wanted to tell the film “a bit like a fairy tale”, but that it certainly had “a real point of reference”. It is a story about what has happened and is still happening in their country. Alma, the heroine of her film, experiences what the property and financial crash of 2007 did in many Spanish families. Counterpart to this is "the memory of a happy childhood, the happiness of the grandfather [and] the magic of the olive tree". From this contradiction arises "the friction, the pain, the rebellion, the hope, the determination". Perhaps it would take many Don Quixotes , "who dare to do the impossible, in order to end up at the beginning of something new."

The story began with a newspaper report that Paul Laverty had read. A thousand-year-old olive tree had been shipped from Comarca Baix Maestrat to northern Europe, where it was supposed to be used as decoration. Many olive trees had experienced the same thing. For Laverty, this reflected the looting his country suffered during the boom years. He saw this as damage that had been done to the region; cultural wealth was abandoned without need. Laverty said: "One of the highest prices we pay for this crisis, apart from material impoverishment, is the disappearance of something essential, hope."

The film was screened on March 6, 2016 at the Miami International Film Festival in the USA. On June 9, 2016 it was screened at the Sydney Film Festival in Australia, on June 23, 2016 at the Brussels European Film Festival and on June 26, 2016 at the International Film Festival in Munich. It was released in theaters in Germany on August 25, 2016.

It is also marketed in the following countries: Spain, Greece, Israel, France, the Netherlands. The international title is The Olive Tree .

criticism

The editorial team of Filmstarts summarized their criticism of the film as follows: "The second joint film by Icíar Bollaín and the Ken Loach screenwriter Paul Laverty starts well, but at the end it comes to nothing."

The El Diario in New York was of the opinion that “never before has a tree made us cry and laugh so much ... 'El Olivo' is both drama and comedy at the same time. One moment your throat tightens, the next the knot loosens in a fit of laughter. The dialogues [are] deep and light-footed, funny and clever. The actors [are] lively and powerful, at the height of this film jewel, and during the whole trip you can feel that the chemistry between them is right [e] - yes, 'El Olivo' [is] also a road movie . In addition, social drama, nature film, description of the present ... "

For EFE , the film presented itself as “a road movie à la Don Quixote, full of humor and the desire to change the world”.

Público spoke of a "liberating and deeply moving film". Icíar Bollaín “made the story of Paul Laverty entirely her own and enriched it with an extraordinary sensitivity”. El Olivo is "a wonderful film, touching, full of truth, indignation and hope, a film that encourages [e]".

The blog de Cine said: “The crisis is the background for a moving story that becomes a metaphor for life itself, an ode to love, hope and resistance ... The best: Javier Gutiérrez and der strange tone with which he makes the drama of 'El Olivo' easier. "

Factoría del Cine was of the opinion that 'El Olivo' was precisely in its “theme of family relations works” and was “wonderfully moving and true”. "The biggest surprise of the film [was] Anna Castillo in her first major cinema role, which she embodied from beginning to end with great mastery, credibility and determination."

The Hollywood Reporter spoke of a "feel-good combination of anger and tenderness, a seemingly simple story about a family and their millennia-old olive tree, rooted in the best cinema ground there is: the emotional truth". The actors are "outstanding". Anna Castillo is convincing as "the refreshingly unruly Alma, and Javier Gutiérrez, as Alma's uncle Alvachofas, with his nuanced, rousing and committed play, becomes the main bearer of the clever, self-deprecating humor of the film". Pascal Gaigne's film music was also praised for walking the fine line between true emotion and sentimentality with “great mastery” and Sergio Gallardo's “sovereignly calm cinemascope images”.

Variety spoke of a "bittersweet story, an [em] arthouse crowdpleaser, earthy, gentle and touching ... [...] Anna Castillo convinces with the right amount of forlornness and strength, vulnerability and resistance. Javier Gutiérrez [was] as Alcachofas her sweeping, lovable counterpart, who owns the biggest laughs in the film, but who at the same time expresses a sense of guilt with a melancholy undercurrent. For the role of Ramón, the caster Mireia Suarez has done the film a great service by finding a non-professional actor: Manuel Cucala has a fabulous face, and only his hands [have] an authenticity marked by the work that cannot be imitated. "

Cinemas Comics also focused on the main actors and said: "You can feel with every breath that Anna Castillo, Javier Gutiérrez and Manuel Cucala have explored their characters into their innermost corners - protagonists from three generations who are so real and truthful, that they dig deep into the memory of the audience. "

Martin Schwickert wrote in the Tagesspiegel that the film was “a real Don Quixote mission”, a “hymn to hope” and found “a good balance between pathos and realism and was more than a flat eco-fairy tale”. And it went on: “On paper, 'El olivo' by the director Icíar Bollaín may seem like an overload of natural metaphors. But the script was penned by Paul Laverty, who as Ken Loach's long-time screenwriter has thoroughly practiced the balance between pathos and realism. And so 'El olivo' is much more than a 'My Friend the Tree' film, but rather reflects the social disillusionment in crisis-ridden Spain in the close family cosmos. "

Awards (selection)

The film received the rating “particularly valuable” from the FBW .
The jury justified this decision as follows, among other things: “The tree in El Olivo is so powerful, however, that any shallow understanding of cultivated trees grows into the sky. The tree as a great miracle, sanctuary and connection between people. You cannot escape this universal statement emotionally, because the dialogues and images in the film are very special. Feelings, experiences, desires and longings of people find their place in the film. The actors, enchanting characters right down to the supporting roles, convince in a strong ensemble play. [...] El Olivo deserves every superlative of film criticism. This is undoubtedly cinematic art that breaks boundaries and with great ease gives truth and hope a new space. "

Seattle International Film Festival 2016

  • 2nd place in the Golden Space Needle Award in the category “Best Director” for Icíar Bollaín
  • 3rd place Space Needle Award in the category “Best Actress” for Anna Castillo

Nomination Seattle International Film Festival 2016

  • Golden Space Needle Award in the “Best Film” category for Icíar Bollaín

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for El Olivo - The olive tree . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; released on July 18, 2016). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ El Olivo Box Office in the IMDb
  3. ↑ El Olivo page on the film at el-olivo-film.de
  4. ↑ El Olivo Directors Statement at el-olivo-film.de
  5. ↑ El Olivo - The olive tree review at filmstarts.de (with trailer)
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h El Olivo press reviews at el-olivo-film.de
  7. ↑ Martin Schwickert: Drama: 'El Olivo - The Olive Tree' - A real Don Quixote mission In: Der Tagesspiegel, August 25, 2016. Retrieved on September 7, 2016.
  8. ↑ El Olivo - The Olive Tree at fbw-filmbassy.com. Retrieved September 7, 2016.