El olivo

Emotional and effective story of an ancient olive tree, the family that sold it, the grandfather who mourned its loss and the granddaughter who fought for its return. That's it really but this is beautifully told with some great footage of some magnificent trees. Newcomer Anna Castillo is perfect in the role as supporter of her grandfather and one who remembers a childhood in his arms and in those olive tree branches. A little too much time perhaps spent on the road but nothing can detract from the evident mixed emotions on display as a family fractures and then perhaps comes back together. All because of a tree, albeit a wonderful looking one. And perhaps 2,000 years old.

Alma is what you call a wild girl. She has partly shaved her hair in a decorative pattern, sleeps with boys she hardly knows and throws eggs at the cars of people she doesn't like. But she has one weak spot: her grandpa. Not only is she extremely fond of him, she also sympathizes with his silent protest against the sale of the oldest tree in the family's olive grove. Since the tree was sold, he refuses to speak and marks the spot where the tree stood with little stones.

Alma, sensing that her grandfather's death is coming near, starts a search for the sold tree. Through the company who organized the sale she discovers that the tree is now standing in the lobby of a big energy company in Germany. In a whim, she convinces her uncle and a friend to retrieve the tree, in order to let her grandpa die in peace.

The film has a nice plot, but is also a clear warning against the excesses of capitalism. The central theme is that there are things that cannot be expressed in monetary value. When Alma's grandfather is told that the tree is useless because nobody buys expensive olive oil anymore, he answers that the tree doesn't belong to him, 'it belongs to history'.

On a second level, the film shows Spain after the financial crisis. Alma's uncle is a ruined man, who has used the proceeds of the tree to bribe the local mayor, in order to get a permit for a seafront restaurant that has since gone bankrupt. The film starts with a practical joke: Alma calls her uncle, pretending to be a bank employee collecting the outstanding debt. That's a nice joke, but with a clear message.

The screenplay for the film was written by Paul Laverty, a writer with a keen sense for social justice who has written several social dramas for Ken Loach. In some of these, the emphasis was too much on the social aspect, but in El Olivo the mix between the character interaction, the social comment and the human emotion is just right. Talking about human emotion: anyone who is not touched by the last scenes, has a heart of stone.

...who has many chances to be yours. because the subject is more than familiar. the script - wise reflection about contemporary society and its clash against tradition, about a sort of love who only the grandparents and grandchildren knows it, a trip who has as purpose a form of justice who escapes to definitions. a confession - film. because, it is so easy to discover yourself as Alma. so, a tale. a simple one. but useful. for remind . an old man, his olive tree and a gesture changing everything. that is all.

We messure the age of the world through our 10 ephimeral fingers. But there are 2000-years-olive-trees that can remind us that maybe, this time, we can try it again and "count" the value of life much better.

Alma is a teenager who benefited from the pure love that a grandparent can give to a favoured grandchild. As such she loves her grandfather, but her own father and uncle are not so sweetly disposed to their old man. He, meanwhile, has started to slip from the World. His decline goes back to when his sons sold his beloved olive tree that was two thousand years old to fund a restaurant business before the banking crisis.

We get to a point where Alma realises he will die if he is not reunited with the tree and so sets out on a mission to find it and bring it home. Only problem is she hasn't got a clue or any money and no way of achieving her aims but she decides not to let the glaringly obvious stop her.

Now this is a lovingly written story by the brilliant Paul Laverty ('I Daniel Blake' etc) and is acted by players who all inhabit their perspective roles with a simple believability. It can be funny and it can be painful but at its heart it is just a very touching and human story and shows how a thing can be as important to a person and another person – we can not help what we love in life. It is in Spanish with a bit of German and some English – well translated in the sub titles. If you like Ken Loach film you will want to see this - completely recommended.