Set in one of the shabbier areas in Bilbao in Northern Spain, this is a tale of racism, homophobia plus both unfulfilled and unrequited love. It’s the story of Ibra a 15 year-old youth who has fled Morocco and is living hand-to-mouth in an immigrants hostel and trying to survive on nothing but his wits. He however catches the attention of Rafa a local boy his age in a bathroom of all places. Although Rafa is part of a local macho gang who go around town menacing people, particular Arabs, knows he is somewhat different than the others.Soon Rafa and Ibra start hanging out together most of the time, and they start to become quite close. Despite a lot of lingering looks into each other’s eyes and the occasional hand brushing over the other, they never quite get around to acting on their very obvious feelings. Rafa cannot even bring himself to talk about it with his best friend Guille, but then again he has also totally failed to notice that Guille is carrying a big torch for him anyway.
Its probably best anyway that Rafa and Ibra do not ever get to take their relationship further as Ibra entered Spain illegally and can be deported at any moment. Why he left his home country is never made clear, nor too is a secondary potentially powerful story strand about another tough immigrant who is devoted to his disabled brother .
In the end it turns out to be film mainly about innocence, and Mikel Rudeda the writer/director tries to amp up the drama with intense close up shots of the two boys intermingled with scenes of a bleak urban landscape and a soundtrack of gentle pop music. It feels however that just when the story is on the edge of developing into something a tad deeper, it holds back which is a disappointment as it never seems to fulfill its potential.
Nevertheless this gentle slow-paced indie movie has much to be admired and I’m sure it will find the audience it deserves.
