Educational Media Reviews Online

Understanding the issues and controversies on the US-Mexico border can be complicated. Similarly, understanding the issues and controversies on the Spanish-Moroccan border can be complicated. How can people begin to sympathize with migrants unless they understand the politics of the region (who is in power, public opinion, etc.)? The film’s approach is to take an ordinary Spanish citizen, an engineer, place him in the center of conflict, and then make him face a dilemma: does he drive away, or does he assist?

On this Side of the World (A Este Lado Del Mundo, 2020) is a feature film directed and written by David Trueba. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles. Trueba used his skills as a writer to create an ordinary Joe, here named Alberto (well played by Vito Sanz), with whom the viewer can connect. We begin by understanding the troubles that plague Alberto: the death of a parent, sibling and romantic relationships, and the loss of a job. Alberto’s sympathetic boss offers him the opportunity to continue to work for his company but as an independent contractor for the State of Spain. To spare his girlfriend the news, he takes this opportunity. The job requires that he fly to Melilla, a Spanish city located on the coast of North Africa bordering Morocco.

The pace of the film is slow and emulates real life. We travel with Alberto to the airport and gaze out the window of the plane with him. We check into the hotel and are disappointed in the faulty air conditioner that creates puddles on the floor. There is a focus on the small everyday troubles of a Spanish citizen. What comes next will allow us to compare his relatable troubles to those of an immigrant.

We accompany Alberto on his first day of work to learn that his predecessor supposedly went mad from his work. There is a later scene in a restaurant, important in describing the purpose of an engineer in the setting of mass immigration, where Alberto meets the engineer who went mad. Engineering solves problems and Alberto is a problem solver. There is nature’s way of engineering (ex. a bird’s nest) and there is mankind’s way. In history, designers are sometimes tasked to solve problems in a cruel way. The prior engineer shows him pictures by Leonardo Da Vinci who, for money, used his artistic talents to design war instruments. Can Alberto design a fence that would keep immigrants from scaling it? Should he?

We enter an office full of piled chairs. It is like a classroom with no students. There are plenty of chairs, but no one can sit on them as they are. There is no reason to un-pile them as there is no one else in the room. Alberto now faces a wicked problem of how to improve upon the current design of the fence. He is introduced to the outcome of this problem from newspaper clippings that he pins to a wall board; this unsolved problem can end in death. When humans are desperate to escape their situation, they will gamble with their lives to try. Can this task be done humanely? Government officials from Spain want to avoid the press and say they are approaching the problem with humanity.

We are guided to the fence by a savvy female police officer, Negore, to examine what is there. Our view of immigrants shows them with bags of goods wanting to partake in trade; women are bent over with bags of unknown goods on their backs, men roll them along. In this first view, we see them as a nameless mass. Later in the film, Alberto will encounter an individual immigrant who attempts escape, not over a fence to Melilla, but to the Spanish mainland, from one side of his known world to another. Alberto is faced with another moral dilemma requiring action or inaction, this one at the heart of the film.

The production is sophisticated. The cinematography by Julio César Tortuero was artistically done; there was a real sense of seeing through the eyes of Alberto. He captured the landscape of Spain, the gothic sadness of the border site, the transactional dealings of the government officials, and the malaise in Alberto’s face. The music by Javier Limón was subtle and fit the mood of the scenes.

David Trueba’s film, in focusing on one individual’s experience, presents the issue in a quiet and introspective manner. The lead actors, Vito Sanz as Alberto and Anna Alarcón as Negore, carry the film well. Alarcón’s swagger and smile enliven the scenes with Sanz. Her character leaves him with one last life dilemma that, like the ongoing immigration problem, remains to be resolved. IMDB lists the film as a comedy; while you could see Alberto’s meeting with his engineering predecessor, Negore’s jokes, and his frustrations as comic, I regarded them more as pathetic. Maybe you could argue Sanz’s face is reminiscent of Buster Keaton as his stoic stance in absurd circumstances evokes levity.

If Trueba decided to film a documentary rather than a feature film, it would become outdated. It is engaging to approach the question of immigration through a feature film with a sympathetic lead character. The character’s choices are abstracted to make them more universal and the story more timeless. The use of symbols lends it a literary feel. The film recalls the approach of Australian director Peter Wier whose narrative films contain an overarching humanitarian question. Yet the drama is more mellow than that typical of Wier’s films.

Of interest to the educational market, A Study Guide (2021) is available on the film’s website. It is four pages long and offers educators a bit of background information not explained in the film (ex. Why do immigrants want to jump the fence at Melilla?), a film synopsis, questions about the film’s marketing, cinematic art, techniques, and themes. The questions on the themes of the film examine the symbolism employed by the filmmaker (the golden globe necklace, the dripping air conditioner, the piled-up chairs), the role of religion, the role of countries, and parallels to other countries. I would add to the list of questions: What would you do if you were Alberto? and how do issues facing everyday European (or American) citizens compare to the life and death issues that face immigrants from Africa and Syria? How might citizens of the Western world use their daily lives as an excuse not to pay attention or become involved? The Study Guide is useful but does not contain a map; I looked up Melilla to learn more about it. I might also add a list of characters and who played them to the guide.

Given all the questions the film provokes, and given some of its imagery, it can be assigned to mature high school students or college students in classes on politics (immigration) or philosophy (morality).

Awards:
Nominated for Best Spanish Film by the Málaga Spanish Film Festival (2020)

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