Uns allen wurde mit Sicherheit schon einmal Leid zugefügt, sei es eine toxische Beziehung, bei welchem psychologischen Krieg geführt wurde, sei es Missgunst und Neid, der dazu führte, dass eine Freundschaft endete oder womöglich sogar eine deutlich schlimmere, gegebenenfalls sogar gewalttätige Tat. Solche Sachen erzeugen eine innere Wut, die es oftmals nicht so einfach macht, diese Dinge vergessen zu machen. Dieser Film widmet sich eben jener Gefühlslage und betrachtet einen nennenswerten Fall der jüngeren Vergangenheit, in dem eine mutige, titelgebende Frau sich ihren Ängsten und ihrem Hass stellt und durch die Überwindung der eigenen Abscheu lernt, dass Taten zwar nicht vergessen werden sollten, doch eine Aussöhnung oftmals ein gutes Mittel für einen Neuanfang ist. So wichtig dieser Gedanke auch ist, so anstrengend und nervig wird es, wenn in knapp zwei Stunden Film dieses Element immer wieder neu aufgezäumt wird und sich die ganze Handlung immer wieder im Kreis dreht.

Statt einer persönlichen und emotionalen Auseinandersetzung bekommen wir ein von Overacting geprägtes Szenario präsentiert, welches zwar tatsächlich so oder so ähnlich stattgefunden hat, aber dennoch es nicht zulässt, dass das Publikum sich mit der Thematik ausreichend auseinandersetzen kann. Weder werden uns umfassende historische Kontexte über das hier zentralisierte Baskenland vermittelt, noch erfahren wir mehr über die Protagonist*innen, als dass sie Reue verspüren und eine mentale Beschränkung endlich aus dem Weg schaffen wollen. Kurz gesagt: viel heiße Luft, die man sich zwar anschauen kann, mehr aber nicht zu bieten hat.

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Maixabel – Eine Geschichte von Liebe, Zorn und Hoffnung ©2022 Piffl Medien GmbH

Maixabel – Eine Geschichte von Liebe, Zorn und Hoffnung ©2022 Piffl Medien GmbH

The Basque Country is a small area in the north of Spain, which directly adjoins the French border and also includes parts of the southern tip of France. The region also lies directly on the Atlantic Ocean. The area is often mistakenly labelled as Spanish territory, but an autonomous government ensures that the Basque Country functions largely independently, even though it is ultimately subordinate to the Spanish system. For the complete independence of the region, the Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or ETA for short, was founded in 1959, strictly against the Franco dictatorship that prevailed at the time. Unfortunately, the organisation was partly terrorist in nature and committed countless murders and attacks from 1960 onwards, resulting in 823 victims by 2009, according to Wiener Zeitung.^[1] However, the organisation has since laid down its arms and handed itself over to the Spanish government, and even officially disbanded in 2018.

The work is based on true events and, by its own account, is quite close to the stories of Maixabel Lasa, who gave it its title. The underlying interview prompted producers Juan Moreno and Koldo Zuazua to take a closer look at the subject matter and expand on their pre-existing interests. Director Icíar Bollaín, who worked as an actress for decades and has also been active behind the camera since around the turn of the millennium, gained some attention beyond the borders of France with YULI and LA BODA DE ROSA. She joined at the request of the producers, as she too showed great interest in telling a story from two perspectives.

This is what it is about

These are emotionally difficult times for the mother and widow Maixabel, who lost her husband eleven years ago to a brutal attack by ETA and has had to struggle through life alone ever since. She still has not come to terms with the event. In order to find her salvation and at the same time to be able to understand why people carry out attacks for a territorial area and thus kill other people, it is her ambition to find her husband’s murderer and confront him. She wants to give the convicted perpetrators, who are in prison in droves, the chance to explain themselves and initiates everything to make such a confrontation happen. At first it is not easy for her, but a first comprehensive conversation brings her some relief, so more meetings would follow. Especially when she understands how difficult it is for the perpetrators to deal with their own past, she sees the possibility of going down the path of reconciliation.

Review

It is unfortunately not really clear what MAIXABEL is, because on the one hand the film tries to revive the past almost like a documentary and on the other hand to present a real drama, which is reflected in the mourning of bereaved families. Those who want to watch this film should in any case be informed beforehand who the ETA and GAL groups are, what the political situation in the Basque Country used to be and how it is all connected, because unfortunately this film throws around the terminology, but the uninformed audience is not really enlightened. It doesn’t exactly help that a plot line is teased at the beginning of the film, but then some big leaps in time follow, which are hardly comprehensible and result in a frightening knowledge gap.

Maixabel – Eine Geschichte von Liebe, Zorn und Hoffnung ©2022 Piffl Medien GmbH

But let’s look at the strengths first, because the production team is quite right that the confrontation of victims and perpetrators of cruel deeds can be very multi-faceted and instructive and that there is definitely narrative potential here that should be preserved for posterity. In particular, Icíar Bollaín has succeeded brilliantly in not focusing exclusively on the role of the victim, but in taking a largely neutral look at the subject and admitting equally to both parties that coming to terms with the deeds and the reconciliation associated with them presents difficult mental challenges, since none of them can reverse time and undo what has been done.

Narrative wasteland

With Luis Tosar and Blanca Portillo, a decent main cast has been found, whose emotions can be bought and for whom it would be easy to imagine that they have actually been through such a situation in their lives. Tosar in particular inspires with a differentiated role design, which on the one hand has the unscrupulousness for a murderous attack and on the other hand remorse and grief is absolutely to be bought. While Portillo’s performance is rather discreet and reserved, Tosar remains in the memory for a long time. Many of the supporting characters, on the other hand, only embellish the plot unnecessarily and ensure that the film goes on much longer than it should. It is a bit of a shame how lovelessly the characters are presented to us, because this film is very sparing with backgrounds and personal approaches and only focuses on the specifics of the perpetrator-victim confrontation, which is perfectly acceptable, but just doesn’t gain much meaning if the audience has no personal connection to the characters.

Maixabel – Eine Geschichte von Liebe, Zorn und Hoffnung ©2022 Piffl Medien GmbH

But it is not only the many superfluous supporting actors that make for a film that is far too long, but also an extremely tiring and extended pacing in the storytelling, which is only topped by the appallingly badly staged dialogues, which, like a game of Pong, are always played from left to right in an absolutely lazy manner and do not allow for a single bit of affective mood. Thus MAIXABEL is definitely not a film that speaks of the feelings that give it its title, but outed itself as a scripted film, where it was clearly to be found in every line: disgusted and sad at the same time, it gazes into the empty space. In a theatre-like over-staging, the strip increasingly distances itself from a real, personal and tragic story and prefers to shape the story that is supposed to go down well with the audience.

The courage to take risks

Only once does the film really break out of this scenario and offer us a moment that recaptures the attention of viewers who have already dozed off and shows us how hard it must be for the bereaved to learn to forgive and at the same time sets the gravity of an apology for an unforgivable act. The whole thing is done so intelligently that it doesn’t even require words, just well-timed and precisely set camera angles. So as important as it is that MAIXABEL gives victims and perpetrators alike a chance to overcome the past, the work unfortunately proves irrelevant in its message to audiences who have never been in such a situation themselves.

Conclusion

The intended message of the film is clearly and unmistakably worked out, and it certainly offers an important approach worth telling. Unfortunately, however, the film lacks a rounded and dramaturgical discussion and instead offers us a patchwork of scenes that are repetitively rehashed from the beginning in order to impress upon the audience over the course of two hours that terrible deeds must never be forgotten, but that confrontation and reconciliation are nevertheless better than a lifetime of hatred. Much like JOE BELL, this story content could have been told in a short film, especially where the film here doesn’t even attempt to provide a historical context that would be understandable to people with no prior knowledge. There is no harm in watching the film once, but a brief look at the interview with the real Maixabel conducted at the time would suffice just as well and saves at least 1.5 hours of life.

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Source

[1] 823 Todesopfer in fünf Jahrzehnten, Wiener Zeitung, abgerufen am 08.05.2022

Originaltitel	Maixabel
Kinostart	26.05.2022
Länge	ca. 115 Minuten
Produktionsland	Spanien
Genre	Drama
Verleih	Piffl Medien GmbH
FSK	FSK 12 ©FSK

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