18/02/2025 - BERLINALE 2025: Iván Fund crafts a simple but spellbinding tale of the simultaneous loss and preservation of innocence through the travels of a young girl known for communicating with animals

Anika Bootz in The Message

An older man brings a turtle to an unmarked van in the hope that a storied young girl will be able to communicate with his beloved pet in exchange for 12,000 Argentine pesos – roughly €10. In this opening scene of Argentinian filmmaker Iván Fund’s newest feature, The Message [+see also:
trailer
interview: Iván Fund
film profile], we already begin to discover this elegant, elegiac tale of how children are guided into losing their sense of innocence and wonder – and how adults seek to preserve what’s left of it. Competing for the Golden Bear at the Berlinale and with a script by Martín Felipe Castagnet and Fund himself, The Message is the only competition entry shot entirely in black and white.

In rural Argentina, young Anika (Anika Bootz) can communicate with animals, or so goes the hearsay across the countryside. Her pseudo-parental figures of unknown relation Myriam (Mara Bestelli) – the spokesperson of the operation – and Roger (Marcelo Subiotto) – the financial manager – are seemingly more concerned with advertising young Anika’s animal-whisperer services than actually taking care of the wide-eyed young girl. As the trio lives out of a camper van, Myriam sneaks off to send voice notes to hungry customers purportedly paraphrasing Anika’s channelling of a pet’s soul while Anika, the child that she is, plays or sleeps soundly in the van. On empirical principle, they are low-budget con artists exploiting mourning or frustrated individuals desperate to connect with their beloved pets. But in the reality of the customers, they are miracle workers.

This unique duality remains throughout the film, where both things are true at the same time. We easily glide through the first half, where the movie’s complex character dynamics are already intriguing enough to grip the viewer. As we watch Anika, captured intimately in close-up by DoP Gustavo Schiaffino, she’s clearly affectionate towards her guardians and seemingly expresses no immense dissatisfaction over the group’s setup. However, we find her several times with her head hung low, carrying the weight of their very survival on her shoulders. Nighttime scenes see the darkness overwhelming the frame, emoting the group’s collective isolation as they travel around seeking clients.

Fund brings to the table an unconventional road movie that is less about the explicit act of travelling, and more about the combined destinations and encounters, several of which are especially important for the young girl. Therein lies a certain softness by which the story is conveyed, pointing to Fund being acutely concerned with the emotionally charged nature of the human-pet bond. With this, he is able to comment extensively on our desire to understand and be understood, refusing to diminish an individual’s desire to connect with their pet in a realm beyond their understanding. Free-floating, simple and sparse brass melodic lines by Mauro Mourelos beautifully interject during pensive moments, never flooding the film with any sense of emotional didacticism.

Whether Anika “really can” talk to animals is beside the point; we are granted limited interiority to the girl herself, perhaps even suggesting that she is unsure – or that it doesn’t matter. What is important to her are little glimmers of childlike wonder, or the lack thereof: Anika puts a baby tooth under her pillow, only to still find it there the next morning, symbolising a slow and unceremonious loss of innocence. Moments dedicated to cats, dogs and even a solo capybara rightfully stir viewers’ own sensitivities: animals are one immensely powerful source through which we retain childlike joy and wonder in a world that constantly tells us these expressions are signs of weakness or immaturity.

The Message is an Argentinian-Spanish-Uruguayan production staged by Rita Cine and Insomnia Films, and co-produced by Amore Cine, Blurr Stories and Panes 360 Contenidos as well as Animista Cine. Paris-based Luxbox has picked up the rights to its world sales.

Photogallery 19/02/2025: Berlinale 2025 - The Message

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Iván Fund, Anika Bootz, Betania Cappato
© 2024 Dario Caruso for Cineuropa - dario-caruso.fr, @studio.photo.dar, Dario Caruso