The Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone Movie Review:


Spanish filmmaker Medem (Sex & Lucia) delves incredibly deeply into the situation of the Basque people in Spain and France, most notably the political scene in Spain and the ongoing ETA violence. It'd be hard to imagine a more comprehensive look into this issue, since Medem interviewed nearly 100 people and puts them on screen in rapid succession to talk about every conceivable aspect of politics, history, art and ethnicity. These interviews are all conducted in important locations and interwoven with gorgeous cinematography of the landscapes and culture, as well as historical footage and clips from films that have dramatised historic events (Medem doesn't dramatise anything specifically for this film). The title refers to the local sports, flinging balls back and forth with increasing energy. And the result is pretty mind-boggling--flooding us with information and opinions about the last remaining aboriginal group in Europe.

This gold-mine of material is beautifully edited, and even the interviews are shot with Medem's ethereal beauty. As the film gets deeper into the political aspect of the conflict, it all gets fairly bewildering--and also very universal, as this could easily be Northern Ireland, the West Bank or anywhere people feel oppressed for their ethnicity. There are amazingly powerful statements about how political correctness has made the situation worse--mostly the profoundly unhelpful "if you're not for me you're against me" (aka, Bushista) position. These are vivid lessons we need to hear now ... all over the world. This is quite clearly the definitive film document on the subject--balanced and open-minded in its approach, letting all sides have their say, and intriguingly juxtaposing conflicting views against each other without comment. The problem with the film is that it's so long and detailed that those of us outside the region will have a hard time following it. Perhaps we need a pared-down 30-minute version we can take in! But at this length, it acutely shows us the complexity and force of opinions on all sides.

Rich Cline

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