As part of the 10th edition of the Iberodocs festival, celebrating the latest documentaries from Spain, Portugal and Latin America, the 2023 ‘docu/hybrid’ film El Castillo (The Castle) from Director Martín Benchimol had its Scottish premiere. It was introduced on the stage of Edinburgh’s Cameo cinema by co-founder and director of Cinetopia, Amanda Rogers and Iberodocs director Mar Felices.
Shot in a dimly lit yet painterly style, the film shows the life of Justina and her daughter Alexia who live in a dilapidated castle in the La Pampa province of Argentina. Justina had been in service to the previous owners before inheriting the enormous property with 64 hectares of land and a herd of cows. Maintaining this is a challenge to say the least for two women of limited means.
Julia, who seems to spend much of her time calling out for her daughter, Alexia, who is usually absorbed in practising racing driving via a video game with her ambition to be a Formula 1 driver as her goal. With remnants of feudal loyalty still intact in Julia’s mind, she won’t sell this burden of a home despite its ongoing problems.
Julia’s resilience in the face of external coercion by family of the previous owners, clearly from a wealthier strata of society, who periodically descent en masseto eat, drink and take the country air while being served by Julia, is remarkable. She also remains apparently unperturbed at being kept dangling by a distant man with whom she has frequent and affectionate calls but who manages to never visit. Meanwhile Alexia sees through all this and remains detached, staying focussed on her dreamed move to Buenos Aires and a new life behind the wheel of a fast car.
When her herd is eventually reduced to a single cow, a shift mercifully takes place as she sheds her subservient attitude and tells Señor Horacio of the previous owner’s family that his plan for her to cater for visiting guests to the estate will not be happening.
The unsentimental bond between mother and daughter is at the core of this, at times, desolate tale but is a fascinating window into the unusual lives of these two women who face challenging circumstances, each with their own quiet inner strengths.
El Castillo (The Castle) was winner of the Horizons Award at San Sebastián Film Festival 2023 and is Benchimol’s first solo documentary.
The film was supported by Screen Scotland, Film Hub Scotland and the Scottish Documentary Institute as well as the National Lottery.
Running Time: 80 mins
Age recommend: 12 +
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 