Petr Lom & Corinne van Egeraat: The Coriolis Effect
I had a very rich experience watching this film. I was pleasantly surprised of the way it was told. The filmmakers took me by surprise by giving me several layers to dig into.Thank you for that but before I go into sequences and content, read this quote from the site of the film, to give you the content background, the Where and the What:
“Cape Verde is the literal and metaphorical epicenter of our world spinning out of control. It is the place where some of the most powerful hurricanes in the world are born. It’s on these dry and wind-blown islands that the filmmakers find humans and animals alike who tell a universal story of the will to live.
The hurricanes are caused by the Coriolis Effect: the earth’s rotation bends and deflects trade winds running between the islands, turning them into storms. The effect is increased by global warming and the rise of sea temperatures, causing the hurricanes to become more devastating.”
The first surprise comes with the dramatic beginning. No explanation, images of rocks and water, sound of waves clashing against the rocks, and of a wind with an eternal brutal sound, a man with a guitar letting the wind play the instrument (!), a close up of a turtle laying eggs, covering them with sands, some researchers taking notes, it´s so well edited by Gys Zevenberger (a veteran who has been editing for Peter Greenaway, Oeke Hoogendijk and took care of the directors’ last film “I am the River, the River is me”), who lets sequences unfold, lets the amazingly beautiful shots by Petr Lom stand out as they deserve. I am normally hesitating with words like these, but it IS a true visual poem. AND we get back to the man with the guitar, AND, indeed, to the turtles in this place, where it has not rained for five years, as says Vasco Martins, the man with the guitar, who has composed the music for the film. Brilliant work.
There are other charismatic characters like the “turtle doctor”, who also takes care of a bird with a damaged wing, that he has to amputate – it will not be able to fly again but it lives, as he says. The same goes for the turtle that misses a limb, it has been with him for 10 years and he cares about it as if it was a child. Wonderful scenes. And the young men who caries a turtle to the sea, when it was going in the wrong direction, the turtles get confused about where the sea is… The wind again if I got it right.
In between scenes with men and animals, the film gives the necessary information about the coriolis effect but does also leave space for a man telling the adventurous story about he ended up in Brazil without really knowing… 27 days on the ocean.
A sheperd: “If the earth could talk, what would it say… Give me a Drop of Water!”…The drought is shown in many ways like in a scene, where birds are fighting to get close to huge water cans brought in by boats, there could be a drop. Dramatic scenes, again the editing lets the scenes unfold, no hurry, take a look, enjoy, be surprised of the wonders of our planet.
AND THE RAIN CAME, after 5 years, for good and worse, for the latter transporting garbage from the sea that gives a huge problem for the baby turtles; many die, others survive but need help to get out of the garbage, they are being watered and helped in the right direction, to the sea, to their right homes where they belong – excellent underwater shooting by Runar Jarle Stray Wille.
Compared to the story-born “I am the River, the River is me”, the couple’s previous film, this one is a much more free film, playful, fragmented, full of layers, it is obvious that they loved to make it, now they have a man&nature fascinated essay with close up’s shifting with drone shots, main characters being turtles (!), who can be seen as us humans making all we can to have a good life surrounded by the most dramatic weather, you can think of.
And the ending, I won’t spoil it for you, a true crescendo of sound and image, wow!
The Netherlands, Norway, 1hour 50 mins. 2024.
