On This Side of the World
(A este lado del mundo)
David Trueba | Drama, Fiction
2020 | 96 minutes | Spain
A deep and global look at migrations, borders, and the most insurmountable walls erected by mankind, directed by David Trueba.
Synopsis
On This Side of the Wall is a deep and global look at migrations, borders, and the most insurmountable walls erected by mankind.
Alberto, a dull and indolent engineer, is fired from his company just as he plans to buy a house with his girlfriend and become parents. To cover it up, he decides to accept an assignment from his former boss to travel to the city of Melilla, a Spanish enclave in North Africa and gate to Europe.
Alberto must renovate, underhand, the system of fences that not only separates one piece of land from another, a city from a country, but two universes in eternal collision: those who want to enter and those who prevent them from doing so. There, he will meet Nagore, a police officer in charge of guiding him through the unknown space, and he will come face to face with the complexity of one of the great issues that shake the world: immigration. Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys?
Trueba proves once again that he is a man concerned with the great conflicts of contemporary humanity, and that his approach to these conflictive issues is far from being frivolous and distant. The filmmaker observes the world with curiosity, compassion, and a multifaceted gaze, which allows him to delve deeper into the subject without losing his narrative pulse.
Reviews
“This film, which an algorithm would scarcely be likely to recommend for you, carries an uncomfortable message for its audience: the disagreeable evidence before you is that the kind of life you have will depend on where in the world you were born, as the title suggests. Where we enter the world is a damned lottery: our privilege depends on geography, and from our favoured, welcoming birthplace, we can look down on others… But what if we were the others?” – Alfonso Rivera, CINEUROPA
“Trueba has decided to focus not on the immigrant but on the citizen, so that his audience has to face these problems head-on, rather than avoiding them like a coward, as his almost ridiculous antihero has until now.” – Alfonso Rivera, CINEUROPA
Citation
Main credits
Trueba, David (film director)
Alarcón, Anna (actor)
Topera, Janfri (actor)
Notario, Joaquín (actor)
Maldonado, Ondina (actor)
Sanz, Vito (actor)
Barry, Zidane (actor)
Villalonga, Marga (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematography, Julio César Tortuero; editor, Marta Velasco; music, Tali Rubenstein, Layth Sidiq, Javier Limón.
Citation
Cataloging
Pragda subjects
Afro-Latin Studies
Criminal Justice
Culture + Identity
Economics + Social Class Issues
Geography
Human Rights
Iberian Studies
International Relations
Migration Studies
Political Science
Race + Ethnicity
Sociology
Keywords
Clips
Festivals
Marsella Spanish Film Festival
Málaga Film Festival
DIRECTOR: David Trueba
NATIONALITY: Spain
YEAR: 2020
GENRE: Drama, Fiction
LANGUAGE: Spanish
COLOR / B&W: Color
GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adults
SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE
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