The Olive Tree (2016)

A girl, her uncle and a friend start an emotional travel to recover a family tree.

Director:

Icíar Bollaín (as Iciar Bollain)

Writer:

Paul Laverty (screenplay)

Stars:

Anna Castillo, Javier Gutiérrez, Pep Ambròs

3 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anna Castillo	...	Alma
Javier Gutiérrez	...	Alcachofa
Pep Ambròs	...	Rafa
Manuel Cucala	...	Ramón
Miguel Angel Aladren	...	Luis (as Miguel Ángel Aladren)
Carme Pla	...	Vanessa
Ana Isabel Mena	...	Sole
María Romero	...	Wiki
Paula Usero	...	Adelle
Janina Agnes Schröder	...	Sophie
Cris Blanco	...	Estrella
Paco Manzanedo	...	Nelson
Inés Ruiz	...	Alma 8 años
Aina Requena	...	Madre de Alma
Pia Stutzenstein	...	Kristin

Storyline

Alma is a young girl with emotional problems and a special relationship with her grandfather Ramón, an old country man who stopped talking about 12 years ago after his son, Alma's father, sold a 2000-years-old olive tree in order to open a restaurant. Dominated by the sadness and the melancholia by the loss of his most beloved tree, Ramon spends his days visiting the place where the olive tree was planted, hoping the day the tree returns. Unable to bear the situation any longer, Alma looking for the olive tree, discovering that it was acquired by a Germany's energy company located in Dusseldorf. Without money or resources, Alma convinces her uncle Alcachofa and her friend Rafa (who has a love interest for her) to go in a truck from Spain to Germany to recover the tree, starting a travel with unexpected consequences for everyone...

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Plot Keywords:

2010s | plan | spanish | spaniard | grove | 

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Taglines:

There Is a Land With a Soul.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The olive grove shown in the movie belongs El Maestrazgo, province of Castellón, in the Autonomous Community of Valencia.

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Goofs

At minute 62, when the lorry is driving in continental Europe (and about to enter Germany), footage of a motorway is briefly shown, with traffic driving on the left hand side.

User Reviews

Enjoyable and attractive road movie about a trio who makes a long journey , being well directed by Iciar Bollain

The picture is set in El Maestrazgo, province of Castellón, in the Autonomous Community of Valencia, there a young girl Alma (Ana Castillo) decides to put away their differences to other family members and undergo a hard mission . When a tree was cut , the grandfather suffered deeply in his soul . Each day Alma's grandfather leaves a little stone in the place where olive tree was planted . Meanwhile, her grandfather is in failing health , his grandfather gets seriously sick, he has emphysema and depression from the ancient tree was cut . Although Alma's grandfather never is referred by his birth name. This tree was bought by a powerful company , this enterprise that acquired the olive three is identified as RRR Energy International . Alma hires the help her uncle nicknamed Alcachofa (Javier Gutiérrez) and a friend called Rafa (Pep Ambròs ) to transport an ancient olive from Dusseldorf ( distance between Dusseldorf and the town where they live are about 1,650 kilometers (1,030 miles,) Germania , to Spain . Alma wants to get the huge Olive before it's too late, which means traveling from his home in the rural Comunidad Valenciana to Germany .But she just hopes that she can finish the trip the way he started it . On that trip, she affects and is affected by her partners and those she encounters . As with other issues in his life, she needs to make the trip on his own terms, which means on her own , her uncle and a friend . The only thing that matters to her is to get the main objective , to bring the valuable and enormeous tree to Spain . She will stop at nothing to get it .

This is an interesting and thought-provoking film dealing with adventures and misfortunes carried out by a trio of obstinate people who start an emotional travel to recover a family tree . A brooding and attractive road movie full of drama , suspense , agreeable relationships among protagonists , and brief touches of humor . Enjoyable as well as provoking screenplay by Paul Laverty , reportedly based on a real story Top-notch main cast such as Anna Castillo as a good , idealist girl , a youngster who needs to do things on his own terms , undertaking a his strange journey to mend an unfair situation . Very good acting by Javier Gutiérrez as uncle Alcahofa whose birth name of the character never is revealed, he is an unfortunate man who explains a debtor debts him about 90,000 Euros , but finally helps her niece . And Pep Ambròs as Rafa a good friend who falls for her .

Adequate and colorful cinematography by Sergi Gallardo . Emotive and sensitive musical score by Pascal Gaigne .The motion picture was originally directed by Iciar Bollain . She has worked as a leading actress in selected films like The South (1983) by 'Victor Erice', Malaventura (1988) by 'Manuel Gutiérrez Aragon , Land and Freedom (1995) by Ken Loach, it became an acclaimed audience's and critics' choice ; Leo (2000) by 'Jose Luis Borau' that won the Best Actress nomination Goya Spanish Academy Awards and Nos Miran (2002) . She is a prestigious producer , writing and directing since then both documentaries and fiction films. In 1995, she wrote and directed her feature film debut, ¨Hola, ¿estás Sola?¨ (1995), awarded with Best New Director in Valladolid Festival and was nominated for Best Directorial Debut by the Spanish Film Academy. The film became one of Spain's 1996 box office hits. Flowers from another world(1999), was her second feature film and was awarded at Cannes Film Festival 1999, Best Film in the International Critics' Week ; ¨Take my eyes, 2003¨, was her following film as writer and director, winner of 7 Goyas Spanish Academy Awards, including Best Film, among many other international awards. Her next feature film is ¨Mataharis (2007)¨ , ¨Katmandu¨ and this ´El Olive¨ at her best .

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Germany] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Spain Germany

Language:

Spanish German English French

Release Date:

6 May 2016 (Spain)

Also Known As:

The Olive Tree

Filming Locations:

Spain

Box Office

Budget:

EUR4,200,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,090,232

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morena Films, Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF), Eurimages

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1