Pau and his Brother

On paper, the Catalonian director Marc Recha (1970) in his third feature Pau i el seu germa tells a wellknown story: a man, Pau, travels to a village in the Pyrenees to find out what kind of life his brother Alex had had. The reason for the journey is the report that Alex has committed suicide. From this perspective, Recha unfolds a shy and yet unflinching film. We see how Pau, followed by a handheld camera, discovers the land of his brother with his mother who has come along too. The seeking eyes of the protagonists also become the seeking eyes of the cinema spectator.By focusing on landscapes and living rooms, Recha makes the environment of the protagonists tangible and also their desire to be freed of this. Pau and his mother do not use grand words after they arrive in the mountains from Barcelona. They chatter, eat and drink with Alex’ friends and become fascinated by the idea that their own life may also benefit from a second chance. For Recha, filming is making sentiments tangible. Pau i el seu germa is a portrait of the eternal quest for the dream life. That quest is somehow heroic in this field. The changing seasons after all, the earth keeps turning relentlessly do not distract Pau. He continues to feel for his dreams, even if his brother ended up dead.(Ronald Ockhuysen is editor of De Volkskrant)