Hierro

Starring: Elena Anaya, Nea Segura, Mar Sodupe

Synopsis:

While travelling by ferry to the island of El Hierro, Maria loses her young son Diego.

Has he fallen overboard? Has he been abducted? Nobody knows. Diego simply vanishes.

Six months later...Maria is fighting to overcome the pain of her loss, to pick up the pieces and continue with her life, when she receives an unexpected call. A child's body has been discovered; she must return to El Hierro. On the island, in this strange and threatening landscape, surrounded by sinister, malevolent characters, Maria is forced to confront her worst nightmares. As she travels the terrible path that may lead to her son, Maria will make the most unbearable discovery of all- that some mysteries should be never be revealed...

If you’ve seen The Orphanage and the Jodie Foster film Flightplan, you’ll recognise the plot of this beautifully shot movie. As the movie had so much going for it, I was ultimately disappointed. The first half is deliciously creepy but the second crawls along to a twist that is quite effective but a bit too late after a lot of melodrama.

Hierro, the title, refers to El Hierro; an island off the Canary Islands. It is a character in itself that it dominates the movie with a heavy claustrophobic atmosphere that helps that creepy first half. Maria, played by Elena Anaya, takes her son on vacation but he disappears during their ferry journey to the island. An investigation ensues but the police find nothing. Some time later, Maria returns to the island to identify a body that she ends up claiming is not her son. The police pressure Maria to remain on the island until the child’s DNA is compared to her own. During this period strange things happen and suspects appear.

Elena Anaya’s acting is very good at the start but eventually it descends into melodrama as the plot goes into meltdown. This is more a problem with the story’s structure than it is Anaya’s. Her commitment to the role is clear, from what she has to do in the role to the very fact that she is in almost every scene.

The cinematography is superb and this is brought more to life by the quality of the Blu-Ray disc. The mood of the movie hooks you in from the beginning but gradually loses itself and the audience as the film progresses. The movie has a bipolar style to it, in that it never fits a genre. In some case, like in David Lynch’s movies, this is played to effect. In Hierro, it seems that it’s lack of identity is not for a purpose but accidental. It’s a shame because it lets the viewer down. I would have preferred the movie to be an out and out horror. It certainly has the potential in the first half, but shoddy characterisation in the second half help serve to spoil the potential and drag it into dull territories that flirt with the thriller/horror genre, with an arthouse sensibility. The score suggests thriller but the visuals don’t always back this up. Out of place hallucinations also don’t help the movie in terms of structure and identity. If I could level a specific criticism, it’s that the movie is just too stylish for what it wants to achieve.

Summary:

So, an overall disappointing movie that doesn’t fit any particular genre but could be labelled as a “Thriller”. Ibanez is a director to watch out for. There’s genius in his direction that could be mined in the future in a more coherent piece. For those who revel in great cinematography Hierro is still worth watching. I suspect that this movie will find itself a niche audience. That could be you so it’s worth taking a chance on and seeing on which side you’ll fall; for Hierro , or against?

5 out of 10 (Wayfarer)