Return to Hansala

Though the subject matter here is really quite poignant, there is something disappointingly pedestrian about the execution of this drama. It focuses on the story of the distraught "Leila" (Farah Hamed) who successfully managed to enter Spain five years ago but who has just lost her younger brother to the waves of the Mediterranean as he tried to enter illegally from Morocco. She is determined to repatriate his body to their family but local, and financially struggling, funeral director "Martin" (José Luis García-Pérez) tells her that's going to cost her three thousand Euros. She hasn't anywhere near that amount, so suggests she pay half and then he accompany her to their village where he will receive the balance. Perhaps rather naively, "Martin" agrees to accompany her and what ensues sees them embark on a surprisingly risky journey that exposes them to bandits and then him to an agrarian and welcoming community that is still expected to shell out to the people-smugglers who caused his death in the first place. As they travel, the pair begin to understand each other a little better and he begins to have a little more sympathy for those desperate to make the journey - regardless of the obvious risks. There are implications galore here but neither the writing nor the characterisations really go into any real depth and that leaves us with something quite superficial. JLGP does deliver something quite touching as the story evolves and his (and our) eyes are opened to these ongoing tragedies, and it's quite sympathetically scored, but it just has something a little too much of the soap to it.