Taking a look at the website of the HOME cinema in Manchester, I was excited to discover that VIVA:The 29th Spanish & Latin American Manchester Film Festival was soon taking place, which led to me getting tickets for all the upcoming Q&A screenings, and travelling to meet the the volunteer.
Note: Review contains some plot details.
View on the film:
Detailing in the Q&A after the screening the aid work she did at a refugee camp in 2016, co-writer (with Valentina Viso and Eduard Sola) / director Nely Reguera & her regular cinematographer Aitor Echeverria bringing the lasting impact of this period onto the screen, with stylish, fluid hand-held camera moves building an intimate, documentary- style atmosphere, as the audience is placed right next to Marisa (played with an expressive warmth that has no filter at all by a great Carmen Machi) in the refugee camp.
Revealing in the Q&A that she wanted to capture in the film watching "Marisa from a long distance" and extensively filming at a real refugee camp in Greece, Reguera brilliantly crosses hand-held close-ups, with long-take wide-shots, which are held back as Reguera gives scenes room to fully breath, with the parental bonding Marisa has for Ahmed being allowed to fully grow in the sequences where the camera stands back, and watches their daily routine.
Mentioning in the discussion after the screening about aid workers going into refugee camps, with the belief that they personally can save everyone, the screenplay by Reguera, Sola and Viso takes a critical view of the white saviour complex from the moment Marisa blocks all others at the refugee camp from her sight, holding a narrow vision of saving Ahmed, without ever asking Ahmed if he wants to be saved by her.
Picking up the phone for Zoom calls Marisa has with her adult children, the writers highlight the disconnect Marisa's kids have from every attempt she makes to reach out to them, which on top of her recently retiring from being a DR, leaves her completely stranded, as the writers explore Marisa's attempt to return to land, via jumping at the chance to become an aid worker, and from when she meets the child Ahmed for the first time, decides to become his saviour.
