There have been many movies in recent years chronicling the journey of Westerners into Third World countries where they travel to engage with nature or seek spirituality and enlightenment. Most of these, however, have been one-note, with the foreign travelers meeting locals who are glowing with wisdom and virtue, or who turn out to be criminals engaged in drug trafficking or other illegal enterprises.
Given all that, I was happy to see Salvador Calvo’s Valley of Shadows – opening throughout Israel on Thursday – which does not feature stereotypes or offer easy answers. It tells the story of Quique (Miguel Herran), a Spanish tourist who undergoes a horrific ordeal in northern India and ends up spending months in a tiny isolated village.
His time there gives him an unusual insight into the lives of the inhabitants of this area, whose existence is ruled by the harshness of nature and their lack of resources. They accept the limitations imposed on them in a way that is initially very difficult for Quique to understand and accept.
Something of a classic hero’s journey
But through his experiences with them, he changes his perspective in a fundamental way. The story, which would otherwise be bleak, becomes something of a classic hero’s journey as he eventually transcends his own limitations to find courage he didn’t know he possessed.
The movie, which features gorgeous photography of the Himalayas, starts out as Quique is traveling with Clara (Susana Abaitua), his girlfriend, and her son, Lucas (Iván Renedo), to whom he is very attached. They are part of the young backpacker culture who want an authentic experience.
They cope with the thin air and stay without complaint in guesthouses with no showers, joining the locals for hot baths at public facilities. But it is not an easy time for them. Clara has had cancer, and Quique sees this trip as an opportunity for her to heal.
When they hear of a village that some tourists tell them they must see to fully experience all the Himalayas have to offer, he is eager to visit it, even though it is isolated and the path to it is challenging. Clara would like them to go to Goa so she can go surfing, but Quique persuades her to head for the village with him and Lucas, which he hopes will help her come back to herself after a mastectomy. She agrees reluctantly.
Quique is beaten by bandits and left for dead
INEVITABLY, THEY get lost and camp out for the night in a remote spot. It’s difficult to discuss this next section without revealing spoilers, but they are separated, and Quique is beaten by bandits and left for dead. A local trader picks him up and takes him back to his mountain village.
In a monastery there, he is treated with local remedies for his injuries, and when he regains consciousness, he is confused and barely able to walk. Frantically, he insists he must report what has happened to the police immediately.
The monk and his assistant, Prana (Alexandra Masangkay, who gives the movie’s standout performance), a young woman with an eye-patch that covers a serious injury of her own, insist that he make a contribution to their monastery, and he struggles to explain what happened to him and why he has no money.
Prana speaks English and Spanish and translates for the head monk. Quique learns to his dismay that there is no way to travel to any village with police for months, until the river freezes and it is possible to walk there. But he must report the crime and get in touch with their families, he insists, to which the locals shrug. There is nothing to be done right now.
Much of the rest of the movie is about Quique getting to know the villagers and absorbing their point of view. In many ways, this film is reminiscent of the movies by the director and Buddhist lama Khyentse Norbu, who made The Cup and Travelers & Magicians, and Pawo Choyning Dorji, the director of the Oscar-nominated Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom and The Monk and the Gun.
All of these movies are set in Bhutan and northern India and deal with the clash between Buddhist tradition, third-world realities, and Western culture. It’s high praise that Valley of Shadows brought to mind these films, which are among the most interesting movies of the past 25 years.
Valley of Shadows neither glorifies nor demonizes the local culture, and it makes it clear that tourists are putting themselves in danger by going off on their own in a place where their phones, cameras, and the contents of their wallets represent more money than most residents can hope to earn in years.
This is a reality that so many Westerners seem to ignore when they head off on their treks, and it’s true that most of the time, they return home safely. But the risk is real, and Valley of Shadows explores it.
By the end, we have learned so much about the villagers that our perspective on them has changed, as has Quique’s. Alejandro Hernandez’s script, which tells us exactly as much as we need to know at any point, is low-key but effective. Combined with the spectacular photography and compelling performances by the entire cast, many of whom are non-professionals, the movie takes us on a moving journey.