Criticism of ‘Eles transportan a morte’, the Spanish jewel that has triumphed at festivals

‘Eles transportan a morte’ is a first feature film, but it has something of a final milestone, a conclusion to the road. The film by Helena Girón and Samuel M. Delgado can be read as the estuary of an investigation born in the previous short films by the pair of filmmakers: ‘Sin Dios ni Santa María’ (2015), ‘Montañas Arbos que Vomitan Fuego’ (2016) and ‘Plus Ultra’ (2017). In all of them, there were already snippets of images and resources that find their echo in ‘Eles’, as if this were a great library made of skin, cloth, weeds and volcanic stone. It is a compendium of minimal narrative, which travels to the medieval past of two bordering territories to question both the official history and the idea of ​​the border itself.

We accompany three sailors who frustrate the plans of Christopher Columbus, by stealing his sail and fleeing to the indomitable cliffs of the Canary Islands. They run parallel to a woman who travels on a donkey through the forests of Galicia and who decides to help a young woman, who has died by suicide. Galicia and the Canary Islands are margins that touch, as if the idea of ​​a map entailed a trap in itself. In the film, their stories become contagious thanks to the darkness of the caves that pierce both countries, and at one point, the Galician woman even seems to see one of the sailors. To capture some of that common black humus, Girón and Delgado’s film explores as much as photography. With a minimal narrative, it expands through prints coming from archive material, very old; of landscapes captured and treated with expired, rough, extremely dirty celluloid; of fragments of stories and songs from popular literature…

‘Eles’ germinates among a large cast of films that explore the epic of heroes without a crown or kingdom, small people who have weaved the imaginary of their land from the land itself. Most of them have their roots in Italy in recent years: they are ‘Re Granchio’ (Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis, 2021), ‘Piccolo corpo’ (Laura Samani, 2021), ‘Lazzaro feliz’ (Alice Rohrwacher, 2018)… Today ‘Eles’ answers them, with renewed energy and from another place. A place where the meigas could lavish themselves with affection and care and where Spanish imperialism was curtailed by the clumsy activities of a group of prisoners sentenced to death. From town to town: Delgado and Girón solve the human mysteries of their land, but leave room for the restlessness of the deep sea, the force of a flaming volcano and the presence of a mute mummy, full of secrets.

‘Eles’ resounds, it rises as a gesture of reconquest from an image that is also slow and unclear. His protest was born deadened by centuries of assumptions that today are beginning to be questioned. ‘Eles’ is not a grandiloquent film, not even understandable: he speaks softly because the truth is never revealed suddenly, out loud.

To overthrow bad heritage.

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DATA SHEET

Direction: Helena Girón and Samuel M. Delgado Distribution: Nuria Lestegás, Sara Ferro, Xoán Reices, Valentin Estévez, David Pantaleón Original title: They transport death Country: Spain Year: 2022 Release date: 13–05-2022 Gender: Drama Film script: Samuel M. Delgado, Helena Girón Duration: 76 min.

Synopsis: 1492. Among the crew of Christopher Columbus are three men who should have already died. They have managed to avoid their sentences by participating in the uncertain journey, but upon reaching the Canary Islands, they flee loaded with one of the boat’s sails. Meanwhile, in “The Old World,” a woman tries to save her dying sister, hoping that a healer can help her. Both trips try to cheat death. Both trips are at the mercy of time and history.