A not your average review for a not your average film.

In irony to its title, there are no clear hints, predictable script lines or an obvious story line in this feature film. In fact, I had to watch it twice just to ensure I saw what I thought and understood what I interpreted. It’s a film that forces you to pay attention, if you leave the room for thirty seconds you would have lost the entire story line…Now that’s what I call an EXCEPTIONAL film.

Hinterland tells the story of childhood friends Harvey (Harry Macqueen)and Lola (Lori Campbell) .When Harvey hears that Lola has been forced to return home after years of being abroad he arranges to take her away for a weekend to the seaside cottage where they spent much of their childhood. In British contemporary style, we then follow a poetic and touching journey of love, heartbreak, honesty and change.

This film has that many educational gateways, I don’t even know where or how to begin…But here it goes.

Simplicity
Throughout the film we are taken on a serene road trip, over the hills, through the river, stumbling over rocks, onto sandy beaches and into the hands of apple eating donkeys. I am reminded of how beautiful life looks without the distraction of technology. Hinterland, brought to my attention all the things I miss on a daily basis due to being engrossed in a technological world that in reality doesn’t even exist. As I watch Lola eager to capture every moment with a disposable camera, I look at the camera as a metaphor for my eyes, my disposable cameras that fail to capture the moments of Mother Nature every day.

The Moment
I remember doing a whole theme around this for Skool Girl Online in September 2014. If there’s any film that has the power to draw you into the moment…This is it. There are many captivating moments throughout, but one scene that stands out is the moment Harvey reveals his heart to Lola…

“…I was thinking, it’s all just a massive adventure, and you’re the most adventurous person I know. You’re right, for some people it is boring [love], and it is pointless but it won’t be for you cause you’re so open and when you’re around it’s like anything is possible.

“It’s okay if you’re scared, cause we’re all scared really. I’m scared.

“We just need to be open to the possibility that there’s someone cause I think its better to have a companion to share it with.
“I feel like you’re running still, you always have been, you’re really good at it and I think maybe you should stop…Because you don’t need to run anymore.”

This confession was powerful because it was indirect. In order for you to realise what was being said, you have to listen and in order to listen we must HEAR. But because of Lola’s failure to hear, she missed out on the moment of hearing Harvey’s heart and dismisses it with her own selfish ideologies on the‘pointlessness’ of love and marriage.

Changes
Like Peter Pan, Harvey and Lola have a friendship that never really grows up. From using ancient walkie talkies to garden camp fire and even taking a bubble bath together with their pants on…We fall in love with a genuine, beautiful friendship. Then we realise that on Lola’s invitation to take a bath, Harvey wants them to grow up when he says “We’re not kids anymore Lo” to which she replies “I’ll keep my pants on.”Lola is subconsciously desperate to hold onto their childhood friendship, always making references the past with “I remember when…”whereas Harvey is ready to accept the present as it is and embrace the possibility of THEIRfuture. At some stage in life, the dynamics in male-female friendship have to change…But it’s a change that neither one of them are fully ready to accept. I’m left wondering, is it right not to move on until you’re ready to let go?

Pain
Lola’s character reminds us that pain is pain until it stops hurting. She’s so hurt and disappointed from the breakdown of her own family unit, watching her Father’s disloyalty to her Mother means she has put up a wall and locked her heart away…Even from Harvey, someone she has known and trusted her entire life. Her way of thinking is painfully awkward to watch and listen to…”How can people go through life believing the person there with can be the one?” As a viewer you are left wondering, what’s so hard to believe in?

To be continued…

Hinterland a feature film by Harry MacQueen
In cinemas and on demand Friday 27 February 2015
www.hinterlandthefilm.com