Handia

It's depressing in a good way... It's interesting, slow paced, you can't expect much from this movie but it's amusing. I watch TONS of Netflix movies / series etc and when you don't have many options left, it's entertaining. If you watch it at night you will probably fall sleep really fast but it's ok haha

XIX century Spain, Basque country, endless wars need endless fodder, and who else would serve that purpose better than poor and destitute. Age old story repeating cyclically to these days. Surviving the war was hard enough but coming home in one piece was even more important. Crippled peasant was no good to anybody, just one more hungry mouth to feed. This heartbreaking movie filmed in harsh, almost unreal terrain tells this saga almost like a fairytale with a giant and a cripple in its center. Two brothers dealt the worst cards in the game of life plod through faraway lands as a part of a cruel freak show. Even having a choice makes one privileged, our heroes have none, just bare-knuckle fight for survival, till the bones break and all mercifully ends.

I get the reviewers here who don't get the touching nature of the presentation of the characters. The apparent limited warmth between the family members, called "salt taste" by one of the reviewers here, is Basque. I'd say that's the way they appear to us outsiders, that this is look into what makes the Basque culture unique is revealing.

I found the film visually stunning, the characters facinating, deep and wonderfully challenging to get to know. Here, a faithfully Basque presentation.

A an experience I hope I never forget.

Watched with Spanish dub and English subtitles.

One of films with salt taste. beautiful. but without the roots. you define it as a family story. or a portrait. or definition of loneliness. but , at the end, each definition seems not convincing. a Basque film. and that is all. the landscapes, the cinematography, the language are more significant than the story itself.

It seems some viewers didn't have patience for this film. Really a shame because I think anyone who gives themselves over to it will be taken by this giant. Beautiful cinematography, understated performances, interesting historical and socio-politico context that resonates today. As with the character of the giant himself, the film depends as much on what is unsaid as that which is spoken. It is a film rich in metaphor and poetic resonance. Most of all, it's a universally human story about the misfit in all of us, and the love and recognition we crave for our true selves. If that's not enough to satisfy any sensitive viewer, then there's no point looking beyond Megalodon.