21/05/2009

Colombian director Ciro Guerra’s The Wind Journeys, presented today in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, truly deserved the backing of so many European co-financiers. Co-produced by Germany’s Razor Film and broadcaster ZDF alongside Holland’s Volya Films (with support from the Cannes Cinéfondation Workshop, Berlin’s World Cinema Fund, Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund and Spanish programme IBERMEDIA), the film is a grandiose initiatory journey through the music and sumptuous landscapes of Colombia.

The wind in the title is that which vibrates through the accordion decorated with bull’s horns belonging to Ignacio, a sort of unshakeable, Colombian version of Lee Van Cleef, with a face weathered by the sun of the Guajira desert. He decides to give up his job as a travelling musician (or "juglar"), despite his talent and the reputation which precedes him everywhere.

His plan to return his instrument (which, according to legend, carries a diabolical curse, dooming anyone who plays it whilst wandering) to the master who entrusted it to him nonetheless takes an unexpected turn, with the sudden arrival of a young boy, Fermin, who starts following him as a disciple. Together, the two protagonists of this picaresque fresco and their little donkey go from village festival to fair, motivated by a quest whose purpose is unknown.

Along the way, despite Ignacio’s reticence, a master-pupil relationship develops and they reveal to viewers the richness of a culture full of superstitions and beliefs, in which music is a matter for men. Indeed, it’s through taking part in intense and captivating musical jousts (the local equivalent of the slam or rap duels) that the juglar earns enough to live on.

And, beyond the beauty and harshness of the extreme, magnificently photographed landscapes, it’s through his development of this notion of duel, against a background of penetrating Afro-Caribbean rhythms, that Guerra creates the tension that allows the film its contemplative moments, without it ever seeming too long.

Naturally, these antagonistic, male head-to-heads echo the equally strong relationship between the old musician and Fermin, as well as that between Ignacio and his master. A handing down from generation to generation whose moving epilogue suggests that it will carry on, just as the powerful rhythms, the beating heart of this film, continue to flow through viewers’ imaginations after the screening.

(Translated from French)