The Solitude of Memory

Just what does José remember of the last time he saw his son Fernando alive? Well, there was some fuss about a horse and a saddle belonging to the boss. José, a hard-working Mexican, dredges up facts and feelings of that ill-fated evening. He is narrating from behind the wheel of his truck, in voice-over as the camera floats over an abandoned racetrack. We watch him light a fire and rest after the work is done. Time and again, it’s the same tragic story with the same ending – the self-chosen death of his beloved son. But every time he recites the story, he does so a bit differently, because memories manifest themselves in varying sequences and importance. Sometimes the discussion he had with Fernando about the saddle is important, while other times it’s the fact that he stayed away from home. In three parts, Juan Pablo González, who grew up in the same rural Mexican village as the late Fernando, offers a poetically introspective portrait of mourning and remembrance. Accompanying José’s sad story are beautiful shots of the vast, Mexican hinterland, where nature, herds of horses, lime trees and the sound of crickets call the shots in an almost meditative way. How does a grieving father experience the dragging on of the years without his son beside him?