Carla Simón’s “Alcarràs”

Alcarràs (2022)

Captivating, multilayered slice of life on family, childhood, growing up, modernisation and farming as a family face their last harvest on a generations’ held farm in Alcarràs, Catalonia

One of the magic things film can do is take you to other places and see life through the eyes of others, immersing you in the emotions and senses of another world and “Alcarràs” thoroughly succeeds in doing all of these things. The performances throughout the film are so natural, it’s difficult to believe they’re acting; it feels like a gloriously filmed fly-on-the-wall documentary.

Telling the story of a farming family living in a house amid a sea of peach trees in Alcarràs, Catalonia, the film opens with the news that the family will lose their house and this is their last harvest. In the background, neighbouring farmers have been struggling and the influx of solar farms and diminishing returns means their way of life is under threat. Charting this final harvest and all its conflicts and minor triumphs, the film delves into family, childhood, coming of age, modernisation and farming in what is a gentle, poetic and multilayered sojourn in in Alcarràs.

The ensemble cast are impressive representing three generations from the mischievous youngsters to the elder patriarch of the family who acquired their house through a gentlemen’s agreement after his father sheltered the wealth landowners during the Spanish Civil War. What’s even more impressive is that the cast is composed of amateur actors whose natural, quiet power outstrips the performances of many established performers.

It’s an understated and masterfully scripted and directed sophomore effort from Carla Simón that ranks among the best of 2022.