interpreters: Susana Abaitúa, Ginés García Millán, Adriana Ozores, David Luque, Fernando Oyágüez
The film presents a reflective journey through memory, lineage, and the lasting impact of violence on a family. An adaptation drawn from a book shares a lineage with real historical threads, and the narrative threads together personal grief with a society’s turbulent past. The central figure finds themselves drawn to the memories of a family that has been shaped by loss, illness, and political unrest. The story unfolds as the protagonist seeks to understand how the past continues to shape present desires for healing and reconciliation, especially when faced with a father whose actions have left a heavy imprint on the family fabric. The film uses intimate scenes to explore how memory can both haunt and heal, revealing a complex interplay between personal sorrow and public history. It is through these moments that the character navigates a path toward resilience, piecing together fragments of the past to make sense of present wounds and the longing for restoration within a fractured family history.
It is a work that interrupts its own timeline, shifting between moments of the past and present to show the weight of time on the characters. In one strand, children confront the consequences of a decision made by a terrorist organization, a decision that altered the lives of families long after the event. In the other strand, the present day examines how guilt lingers and how the burden of responsibility can be too heavy to carry alone. The director handles these shifts with sensitivity, guiding the audience through a landscape of emotions where grief, responsibility, and absence intersect with political memory. The result is a personal, heartfelt account in which political realities intrude into intimate lives, shaping how individuals process loss and navigate absence.