Palm Trees in the Snow

The tells the story of Kilian (Mario Casas); a young white worker that on 1958 arrives to Equatorial Guinea with his older brother to work (as a white manager) on a cacao plantation; and fell in love with a local native (not acceptable by the natives and due to the political turmoil become something forbidden).

In the present time; Kilian's niece decides to visit the place to find out information about her family history; so the tale become structured as a mix of flashbacks.

If the intention was criticism on Spanish colonialism; the movie limits the attack to a few bad seeds on both sides and the obvious cruelty (locals were paid but punished like slaves) is mostly diluted. In fact the portrait of the liberated Equatorial Guinea is far more depressing and cruel than the old one. The movie seems to say "you left us and see what you got into".

While the technical aspects of the movie are excellent (camera work, FX, action and/or violent scenes, sound effects), the editing somewhat confusing. If you do not pay attention to some names you will get lost in many characters relations.

There are also a few unnecessary scenes that make the movie lag.

The acting department is reasonable but on the white side; nobody really shines. On the native (black) side, performances are stronger and passionate even when characters do not have a lot of development.

As many European productions; there are some violent and plenty of nudity and (moderated) sex scenes. In Spain the movie was consider PG but like most of Europe; but I am pretty sure it will get an R in USA.

In brief; it is an interesting (but not perfect ) movie worth a look

Intense drama plenty of thrills, emotion, romance with Amor Fou and soap opera. Set in 1953 it deals with a young man Killian, Mario Casas, living in the remote mountains of Huesca, he alongside his older sibling Jacobo, Alain Hernandez, undertaking a new life, and embarking on a dangerous journey to Ecuatorial Guinea where is working their father, Emilio Gutierrez Caba, on a cacao plantation and subsequentlly taking place the troubled days of Independence and triumph by dictator Macias . Many years later, after the death her daddy, a young Spanish girl, Adriana Ugarte, finds out some unanswered questions by discovering a mysterious letter. As she searches for the answers and travels Africa on a risked trip that takes her back to Fernando Poo . Meanwhile, there takes place an Independence War with turmoil, confrontation, rebellion from African natives against the Spanish, leading to fateful consequences.

Dramatic movie concerning two brothers travel from Huesca which saw them to grow up to the exotic island of Fernando Poo where takes place several thrilling events, love stories and revolutionary upheaval. It packs a magnificent camera work, high production values, luxurious design, violent images and a lot of sex scenes, including intercourse on the beach. A lavish production with a deep criticism on Spanish colonialism of the fifties by using a great number of flashbacks and flashforwards. Average acting by Mario Casas as a young who never left the far mountains of Huesca and comes to Guinea to find knowledge, pain and maturity . Adriana Ugarte Is better than him as the young woman who unfolds secrets of her ascendants. Support cast is pretty good, such as Alain Hernandez, Macarena Garcia, Daniel Grao, Berta Vazquez, , Luis Callejo, Fernando Cayo, Djedje Apali, Petra Martinez, Celso Bugallo as an adult Killian and veteran incombustible Emilio Gutierrez Caba.

It displays a sensitive and stirring musical score by Lucas Vidal. It contains a brilliant and colorful cinematography by Xavi Gimenez. Shot on location in Llanos del Hospital Huesca, Bahia Solano, Colombia and Palmas de Gran Canaria. The motion picture written by Sergio G. Sanchez was well directed by Fernando Gonzalez Molina, but being extremely overlong, almost three hours . He has made some successful films as Brain drain, 3 steps above heaven, I want you and The invisible guardian. And he directed notorious Tv series as Paco's men, The boat, Luna el misterio de Calenda and a documentary, The best day of my life. Rating 7/10. Well worth watching.

This is a great movie! However, I had to force myself to watch it until the end because of the English dubbing/voiceover did not align properly and match the characters emotions and etc. You have Africans depicting strong emotions but the dubbing is this monotoned all white American voice w/ no emotion. It doesn't match. Even the captioning was off. I would've preferred to watch the original version and select English captioning.

What a fantastic film with excellent cinematography. A great history lesson too. Beautiful storyline and deeply moving. Thak you so much for this film, I recommend it to EVERYONE.

My only criticism was the poor English dubbing of language, which unfortunately, became laughable at moments, truly damaging the effect...Otherwise? If you pay attention and follow the plot-line, very interesting absorbing romance/drama with historical context and interest.