QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM MALTA
Danish artist and filmmaker Robin Petré is internationally recognised for exploring the connection between people and animals, and the repercussions of our integration. Only on Earth is no exception. He gives horses and sheep just as much (if not more) attention as his fellow humans. We immediately find out that their relationship is troublesome, as two firefighters recall battling the large flames that engulfed their land. One of them notes: “a large number of wild animals – roe deer, lynxes and boars – ran from the fire, but turned around as soon as they saw us”. The other one concludes: “they rather die in the fire than be with us“.
This non-narrative documentary features images of Galicia, in Northeastern Spain, afflicted by large wildfires, as well as its inhabitants – humans and animals – before and after the tragic events. The chronology of the film is never entirely clear, as Petre shuns contextualisation in favour of freeform poetry. You wouldn’t know that this Spanish region is one of the most fire-prone places of Europe without reading a synopsis or some background information before watching the documentary. And you will leave the cinema without knowing the cause of the tragedy: is this arson, or a natural consequence of global warming, or perhaps anything in between? Your guess is as good as mine.
The movie immediately evokes Oliver Laxe’s astounding Fire Will Come (2018), a fictionalised account of the devastating consequences of the widespread Galician fires. Both movies are profoundly lyrical. Only On Earth opens with a forest fire at night. It looks almost like slowly shifting magma. These hellish images resemble an otherworldly event, making the film title sound ironic. Later, the wind blows the ashes of the extinguished flames. It looks like a snow storm, except fthat the “precipitation” is moving horizontally. Terrifying and also hauntingly beautiful, in equal measures.
But it is the animals that provide Only On Earth with the most striking imagery. A sheep gives birth. A very large herd of horses yeild a dust storm on a dirt road. A horse writhes as two men cut its mane (the reason for the strange procedure is never revealed). Another equine character stands next to an enormous wind mill. At times, manmade structures can overpower nature. Human beings too are the subject of some peculiar scenes. Two forest rangers watch a fado video on their mobile inside their vehicle at night. Curious locals witness the dense smoke of wildfires turn day into twilight, just as the ashes get into their eyes. Two boys discus rural matters as they lay a pile of rolled-up mesh. One of them poses on a horse for pictures.
Strangely, Only on Earth has little industry connection with Galicia. The Spanish money poured into this film – a co-production of Denmark, Spain and Sweden – comes from the Autonomous Region of Catalonia, at the other end of the Iberian nation. Perhaps the Galician government is hostile to a fiery depiction of their nation. Or maybe Petre wanted to preserve his foreign gaze by keeping locals firmly jn front of the camera – yet nowhere near him. Only on Earth remains a solidly sensory and observational documentary.
Only on Earth shows at the 3rd Mediterrane Film Festival.
