The Sky Turns

Less documentary than cinematic meditation on the passage of time, Mercedes Álvarez's film offers an impressionistic account of her year-long visit to the tiny Spanish village of Aldealseñor, where she spent the first three years of her life. The Sky Turns follows the seasons, with each of the four chapters including episodes dealing with past, present, and future. In obviously staged scenes we observe the few remaining (mostly elderly) inhabitants talking in a rambling fashion about their lives and remembering how things used to be. Viewers overhear a guide describing the Roman conquest of nearby Numantia in the second century B.C. as he leads a group of tourists through the ruins of the once-proud city; follow a woman pointing out dinosaur fossil imprints; and listen as some residents speculate about the future—what the implications will be of the transformation of a medieval palace into a hotel, and whether humans will eventually colonize Mars. But Álvarez also considers present-day change in a “chance” meeting of two Moroccans—a shepherd and a visiting track star—who have migrated to the area that Spanish families have abandoned. Álvarez ultimately encapsulates her perspective in the figure of a painter who's going blind, equating his failing sight with the gradual loss of memory about Aldealseñor as its population disappears. DVD extras include a video essay and a photo gallery. Serving up arresting images, this often-haunting elegy is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)