DIR. Cristina Gallego, Ciro Guerra
YEAR. 2019
COUNTRY. Colombia
RUN-TIME. 125 mins
RATING. 15
£6.00 (£4.50 conc.)
Doors 7.30PM
Film 8.00PM
The origins of the Colombian drug trade, as seen through eyes of an indigenous Wayuu family that becomes involved in the booming business of selling marijuana to American youth in the 1970s. When greed, passion and honour collide, a fratricidal war breaks out and puts their lives, culture and ancestral traditions at stake.
“When Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra’s gripping, brilliantly mounted drama “Birds of Passage” (Spanish title: “Pájaros de Verano”) opens, we could almost be watching an ethnographic documentary. It’s the late 1960s and we’re observing a family from the indigenous Wayúu people in a remote, arid stretch of northern Colombia. A girl named Zaida (Natalia Reyes) has just completed her ritual period of isolation and her people are celebrating her emergence, which symbolizes her readiness for marriage. And that prospect looms up almost immediately with the announcement by Rapayet (José Acosta), a handsome guy from a neighboring family, that he wants her as his wife.”
“This is film-making that really does push at the limits of storytelling and generic templates, and it’s brimming with images and ideas”
“Ancient traditions, dreams, allegories, and premonitions in a stylized, hybrid tale of power, love, vendetta, and honor. This is powerful cinema.”