The North

The highlands, right in between the clouds and the mountains. Two friends, and solitude all along the way...

There was only one goal: reaching the northernmost cape of Scotland from Glasgow, 600 km on foot through the rough terrain, barren or wet wilderness, during extreme atmospheric conditions. Was it a dare, a bucket list or a dream? Chris (Bart Harder) and Lluis (Carles Pulido), former roommates, decided to set apart 30 days from their busy lives and accomplish this adventure together. We don't know who they are, where they come from, what they want to become... but we'll discover it, along with them, on the way to Cape Wrath.

After a blind phone conversation from the past (as if recorded on an answering machine) of two students planning a farewell party, like a usual "Tuesday night" of drinking at the pub, the film cleverly flashes forward right away to a decade later. All we know about them through this phone call overture is that they used to be best friends, and they rekindle in their thirties, for this trip. After this succinct introduction, the film is entirely contained within the trail itself. Two trails in fact: the West Highland Way & the Cape Wrath Trail. This is a hiking film, an immersive hiking feature.

Strapped in to their camper's backpacks with nearly 30kg, like two interchangeable hikers, they hop on the trail on a light foot. On a handshake and a smile, they embark on a journey both uncertain and full of promises. They are well prepared but their preparation itself is evacuated. Their backpacks are fully-equipped but feel aerial like a hot balloon. They are fit for the challenge but will their physical condition endure? Their friendship goes beyond words, being there transcends any chit-chat verbalisation. From carbon-copy of each other, small gestures, tiny peculiarities, various issues, and their own habits will shape their differences, amongst their similarities, both on the trail and in their respective personal lives.

In the Caucasus mountains of Georgia, Julia Loktev filmed Alex (Gael García Bernal) and Nica (Hani Furstenberg) on a hiking trip in The Loneliest Planet (2011), an occasion to test the amorous bond limits from a newly engaged couple, between passion and arguments. But Bart Schrijver, with The North, eschews any possible love melodrama to focus entirely on the human experience of what it is to hike alone under all sorts of weather. Replacing the love interest by a tacit friendship, he re-centers the action around the mundane activities, the minutiae of survival off the grid. A slow-burn crescendo of the smallest unspoken habits turning to personal revelations of their personality and synergy.

Economy of means, hyperrealism, long takes, slowness, we are in genuine Contemplative Cinema territory. By slowness, I mean "slow life", at the pace of a shoe off-road, with the luxury to contemplate the scenic view of the magestic Highlands. Truncated beginning and ending led astray, the whole event unfolds between two goalposts planted on the path. Two geodesic endpoints on the globe, like two stages of their lives that could wrap up or restart all over again. Suppression of the plot, as the act of walking itself is the propellant of this minimalist journey. The landscape, which changes every direction they look, is a third character of the film, a trusted and mischievous companion.

The accumulation of unique sequences, one after the other, like one foot in front of the other, forges alone a whole journey without transitions but the changing landscape, without plot drive but the continuation of the trail, without dramatic score but the murmurs of Nature.

There are 4 contemplative films where a solitary duo walking through and through is the main leitmotif, if not filling the entire feature length. It's like watching Gerry and Gerry trekking through the desert (without equipment) in Gus Van Sant's eponymous film. But Gerry (2002) is a mystical trip, stretched beyond human limits. Sharunas Bartas's Freedom (2000) also features a small group of people escaping through a long sandy desert, struggling in silence to reach liberty at the other end... The gait of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in Albert Serra's Quixotic (2006) is less impatient, the film focuses on nomadic meandering and idleness. But the nape shots of people walking down a path, against the wind, is never as long and uninterrupted as in Béla Tarr's Satantango (1994).

The North is Schrijver's second hiking feature. The filmmaker already directed, 3 years ago, Sophie, a woman hiking alone 500km throughout the Arctic Norway, with Human Nature (2022). The two films have some obvious similarities. The cotton-like flowers blowing in the wind of the tundra. The peanut-butter tortillas. The bothering phone calls from work. Sophie is first annoyed by people's concerns around her, then by people's kindness. In this debut film, Schrijver starts from the Netherlands with Sophie's family and friends, nonetheless it is more contemplative due to the lonesome laconical protagonist who avoids people as much as possible. Hiking is defined as "something you can't explain, you have to live it", an experience impossible to share with your own friends, and barely mentionable to other hikers...

Sometimes Chris way in front. Sometimes Lluis well ahead. These two friends are not inseparable, they walk each at their own pace. They can also leave each other and walk alone for a stretch of the trail... The film always follows the walker, and the missing one eventually catches up some sequences later... They cross paths with occasional strangers on the way. They meet singular people with their own story, which is shared for a short while before they disappear again, forever. The instant profound camaraderie of hikers lost together in the middle of nowhere.

The whole adventure of this production is chronicled in a companion piece, the behind-the-scenes documentary: True North (2025). If The North only features walking, walking and walking. Pitching a tent, and heating some food at times. (The magnifying aspects of an idealized hiking feat). True North tells the other story, more pragmatic and down to earth, everything The North graciously omits, like in fond memories. The complaints about midges, sore muscles, dampness, kilometers, acclivity, hunger, anger, weather... For The North all this remains onscreen but unspoken, as Chris and Lluis internalize this struggle to let shine through the non-verbal commitment of their bodies to the course.

In The North, there is a touching false-ending for cinephiles, on Cape Wrath's beach, that will remind them of Truffaut's Les quatre-cent coups (1959, The 400 Blows).

What if there is no end to this trail?

An amazing film which really lets you connect with the characters, and follow their journey, not just physically but also emotionally. All accompanied by stunning shots and views of beautiful landscapes, perfectly reinforcing the story being told.

Almost feels like you're there in nature yourself. Absolutely amazing.

Who hasnt had moments when their friends slip away and you try to reconnect with them only for you both to go through moments of "readjusting to eachother" before you find a new level of peace with eachother?

This isnt just a hiking film at all - less so about hiking - its just about humans who need to reconnect with nature, themselves, grow as people and through friendships. I loved it, and its a film which you walk away from and then rethink for days to come. Planning a hike now, im inspired hahaha.

The North is film about a journey. However, many people who travel soon realise that it's the journey, not the destination that will stay in your memory in the years to come.

Watching reminded me of the journey in Heart of Darkness. Not with the drama. The brooding Scottish Highlands provide that. As the friends hiked the scenery move from the gentle, rural outskirts of Glasgow to the harsh challenges of the rough bounds of Scotland's north west coast. The hills got steeper, stonier, colder, wetter. They are made to look inwards, as individuals and as friends.

Like it's sister film "Human Nature", The North captures beautifully why people hike. Why someone would undertake a long distance hike. It does it well.

The spectacular scenery is the star throughout. The cinematography wonderful. Use of fellow travellers over the journey is a gentle nod to the multitude of reasons that lead someone to swap the comfort of the sofa for several nights in a wet and windy tent. In many ways the film is a masterclass in the concept of second degree fun.

The fact that the entire crew hiked and camped the entire 600km journey from Milngavie to Cape Wrath gives the film an authenticity that simply couldn't be captured by faking it.

I loved it.

As a hiking enthusiast I can really appreciate this gem, looking forward to the next movies of these makers.

I was there at the premiere of the first movie and they made such big steps towards improvement. They really made sure it's as close as can be to the real deal on the world of hiking, it made us want to plan a future holiday there and start walking the same trail, it might be long. We will do it to at our own pace and hopefully without any drama 🤣

Let's make sure the makers can continue this path of success and make hiking movies more accessible for all the beginning en advance hikers.