Bridgend

Such an intense movie with so much hard, darkness and yet it's beautiful in a way that is hard to describe. This movie got under my skin. It is highly recommended.

If you live in the back of beyond, where all your parents and grandparents knew each other how do you escape? What is there to live for when there are no jobs or future to look forward to? How do you portray this scenario in a film? Welcome to Bridgend. A dark and melancholic film that does just that. Everything is dark, the scenery, soundtrack and outlook give no hope. The teenagers are falling by the wayside, one by one and still no one has any answers. You feel their angst and inevitable demise but it all seems natural. The sign of a good film in my eyes and ears. Not for everyone, a bleak tale if ever there was one but well portrayed non the less.

Between 2007 and 2012 were committed 79 suicides by hanging in Bridgend County, a coal mining province in Wales, and mostly among teenagers. Based on this tragic true story, the film Bridgend, directed by Danish rookie Jeppe Rønde who until then only made documentaries, is a fictionalized version of the case. The story revolves around the protagonist Sara (played by Hannah Murray, known for the character Gilly, of Game of Thrones), a young woman who moves to a small town in Bridgend County due to her father's job relocation, the police officer Dave (played by Steven Waddington; he starred in the movie Imitation Game - 2014). Being a new girl in town Sara does not have any friends and her favorite hobby is riding her horse, Snowy. But gradually she gets drawn into a group of mysterious teenagers who appear to be connected to the wave of suicides, which causes concern of her father, who investigates the deaths.

To make this movie the director Rønde spent six years researching, interviewing and accompanying the teenagers who lived in the area and wrote the script based on their stories. There are theories about the deaths, but local authorities still do not know what motivated the suicides in which the film was based. Another detail is that the motion picture was filmed in the very Bridgend County.

The film portrays the reckless life of teenagers and uses the clichés that are already well known in adolescence representations: parties ruled by alcohol, cigarette, riots and dips in the lake, in a quest for freedom, to experience feelings without worrying about the consequences of your own acts. The intergenerational conflict is another point addressed and is showed by the gap between parents and children, who can not interact or communicate with each other.

With a gloomy and gray, grim and melancholic atmosphere, Magnus Nordenhof Jonck's photography (known for his work in Kapringen - A Hijacking - 2012 and Krigen - A War - 2015) creates a claustrophobic tone that makes you feel as if something terrible could happen at any time. Part of this constant tension effect is also built by Mondkopf's soundtrack, which uses the electronic sound to keep the suffocating tone in the movie. Bridgend quite remember the movie The Witch (2015) for the setting yearned in each frame.

Despite having an efficient cast the film could have developed the characters more. Another weak point was the way the script was written. The story does not follow a specific line and ends up being confused and not promoting the necessary understanding. The narrative focuses only on the lives of adolescents, leaving aside important parts as the parents viewpoint, the investigative work of the police and how the suicides affect the local community. Rønde was bold in its proposal to portray a difficult subject in an abstract way and ended up delivering a smaller film than it could be. Especially for the setting and the visual quality that are top- notch. Perhaps part of the answers that were left unclear can be found in the documentary Bridgend (2013).

Originally posted in: https://vikingbyheart.blogspot.com.br

Tricky. For anyone familiar with the very real instance about the spate of suicides that has blighted the Welsh county of Bridgend, then this film is likely to be a mixed viewing experience. For sure during the film one can't help but keep thinking about the real events, the theories and facts of such, so it's a little distracting because Jeppe Rønde's film demands the utmost attention throughout.

It should be noted with all seriousness that this is only a meditation on the real events, it's not offering up answers, so people should seek out all official text and documentary of the events for the real picture. The film operates in the haunting space of the ethereal, both narratively and visually, with the youngsters at the story's core firmly caught between two worlds. The behaviour of the youths here will cause consternation in some quarters, their recklessness and daring on the surface not making sense, but really that's the point. Sense doesn't operate, not here or in the real world.

There's a number of striking sequences that show Jeppe Rønde as someone who has something to offer the indie art cinema circle. Such as the naked youngsters floating silently in the lake that has become their getaway place, and the finale at same lake that is akin to lambs paddling to their slaughter. Of course the director has had to fend off charges of sensationalism, romanticising suicide etc, that was to be expected, but he hasn't. He has produced a film of intrigue and emotional depth, one that stays with you long after that haunting final shot has vanished. 7/10

Thanatos is the drive to death and has often been referred to in recent literature in reference to humanity's drive to self annihilation, faced with seemingly overwhelming social,economic and environmental issues.

Bridgend is its own way taps into this notion. It focuses on a group of young people who seem to have reached the end of hope and view death as their only "accomplishment" in life. Death has a tribal quality, its something that is worshiped as a group and dedication proved by taking life threatening risks, before the final act itself.

The quality of acting is good and the visuals whilst austere, are well rendered and do help infuse the film with a sombre atmosphere. Where this film falls down, for me, is in its story department. Its really difficult to understand what its point is? Indeed, in some respects, it seems rather rhetorical in a rather sad and depressing, way.

In any case, I'll leave it to you to judge the overall worth of this film. Its not for me but that's not to say you might not find something of meaning in its message. Seven out of ten from me.