Nearly impossible to review without spoilers, the bulk of the narrative action occurs in the final half-hour of 'Jauja'. The first hour and a quarter is almost deceptively different from the final 30 minutes as it spins a rather simple tale of a soldier searching for his daughter in the wilderness after she elopes with one of his lieutenants in the middle of the night. Things change towards the end though as he discovers a cave inhabited by an elderly women who (through her unusual questions) we come to realise is his daughter, grown up. As he has not aged, it soon becomes apparent that he is a ghost - a restless spirit who kept wandering even after death until he finding his child. The final fifteen minutes are even stranger though, and whether one takes it as his dream of a life of richness for his daughter (for whom he said never really knew a real home) or something else - is entirely open to interpretation. Fascinating as all this might sound though, the film is never especially engaging with its twenty page script expanded to a film close to two hours in length. Some of the lethargic shots that bask in the natural vistas are pleasant enough, but why so long is spent merely watching lead actor Viggo Mortensen get dressed or watching his daughter sleep for minutes on end, is a mystery. Tension invariably dissipates with so little happening on screen, and powerful though the twist might be, it would have certainly been even more effective in an intense short film less half its length. If one has the patience though, it is admittedly a thought-provoking ride.
