AFI Fest Report: On The Other Side Review

Peter Martin checks in from AFI once again, this time with a look at Mexico's submission for the best foreign film Oscar.

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Aimed at children but definitely not a Disney film, Gustavo Loza's ON THE OTHER SIDE presents three stories of how children aged 9-11 deal when their respective fathers leave their families behind so as to emigrate to other countries for employment.

Starting life as a short film about a Cuban boy's disastrous attempt to find the father he has never known, the director said in the post-screening Q & A that he wrote the other two stories to explore additional perspectives on the issue that obviously touches millions of lives worldwide. Though the basic tale is the same, sufficient variation is enacted so as to give a larger view to something that might otherwise be dismissed as an after-school television special.

The film is edited together so that the POV shifts between the three stories. Besides Cuba, the other settings are rural Mexico, where the father has just left his wife and three sons, and Morocco, where the father has left his wife and sole offspring, a questioning girl, alone for seven years while he works in Malaga, Spain. The different settings allow cultural differences to seep in. The Mexican family lives by a lake, where local legend has it that a princess still guards the deep waters, and the boy's grandfather is rueful about the effect of emigration upon the men in his village. The Moroccan mother does not harbor any doubt or questions about her husband, though the daughter wonders how he could stay away for so long without visiting, especially since Spain is so close, mileage-wise, to Morocco. And in the Cuban family, the sexy mother steps out at night while her father shakes his head sadly.

Loza elicits good performances from his young leads, and the photography (by three different cinematographers) differs slightly to give each locale its own personality. The three stories feel complete and true to their circumstances in how they are resolved.

The director stated afterwards that he wants children to see the film, and, since ON THE OTHER SIDE is Mexico's submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, there's every reason to believe it will win wider distribution after its World Premiere at AFI FEST.

Review by Peter Martin.