It took me some weeks to properly put my thoughts about this movie into words. I haven't read the book, although I am definitely planning to. For what I've heard, the movie is mostly true to the original story by Paola Cognetti.
The movie was filmed and produced during the Covid-pandemic. Felix Van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch and the film crew stayed near the mountains during the shoot. This embodies in a way the self-sought isolation in the mountains of one of the main characters Bruno.
The music nicely complements the documentary-like, authentic images of the breath-taking nature - a term clearly only used by city people.
This is not your average "wanderlust" movie. Le Otto Montagne is about a difficult father-son relationship which could have been totally different if they knew each other at different times. It is a movie about the quest to finding yourself which everyone strays or should stray by themselves. Most of all, it is about the strong relationship based on the mutual love for the mountains between two life-long friends, who do not have to hear or see each other every week or month to maintain it. A relationship strong enough to easily overcome disputes, misfortunes and most importantly time is something rare and special and something I wish for everybody.
I saw the movie at the end of 2022 and it easily became my top movie of that year. 10/10.
