It is the film that everyone is talking about at the Malaga Festival. ‘Cinco lobitos’, the debut feature by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa (Barakaldo, 1978), has moved critics and viewers alike for its sensitivity, modesty and precision when exploring themes such as motherhood, illness and the weight of family heritage. Shot for the most part in Bakio and Mundaka, the film was already seen in the non-competitive Panorama section of the last Berlin Festival. Now it is emerging as the main favorite to win the Biznaga de Oro this Saturday in Malaga, a festival that in recent years has discovered the most relevant female voices of new Spanish cinema. ‘Cinco lobitos’ would thus join titles such as ‘Summer 1993’, by Carla Simón, who this year won the Golden Lion with ‘Alcarràs’, also seen in Malaga, ‘Las distancias’, by Elena Trapé, and ‘Las niñas ‘, by Pilar Palomero.
The actress Laia Costa bears the weight of the story in the shoes of Amaia, a 35-year-old first-time mother and surpassed, who, still sore from the stitches, faces the challenges of caring for a newborn. In addition to breastfeeding little Jone and discovering that sleeping seems like a chimera, the protagonist also has to put up with her grandparents, who have come to Madrid to help her. Susi Sánchez with an accent embodies one of those surly and decisive Basque mothers, while a superb Ramón Barea fills his character with nuances as a man not used to expressing his feelings. “Your grandma has been a good father and a lousy husband,” the mother snaps at her daughter. Mikel Bustamante embodies the father of the child, almost always absent due to his work as a theater technician.
‘Five little wolves’, which will hit theaters on May 20 from the distributor BTeam Pictures, begins contemplating itself with a smile. Any father or mother will recognize themselves in the exhausted protagonist, powerless before the continuous crying of the girl and alone, almost always alone. The first time you go to the ER with your son in your arms, the park world, the hell of the first weeks for a self-employed person, who finds that reconciliation is impossible… However, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa does not limit his first film to a sharp analysis of motherhood and upbringing. Powerless and on the verge of postpartum depression, Amaia decides to change Madrid for her pretty coastal town and go live with her family for a while. She will discover that, when we reach a certain age, we take care of our children and also of our parents, who may be strangers to us. We continue a legacy and, although it weighs us down, we recognize ourselves in our parents and we cannot escape the affective inheritance of the family.
Settled in Madrid for a long time, mother of a six-year-old boy, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa acknowledges that there are autobiographical elements in the film she has written and directed. “There are experiences, but they are very ordered,” she qualifies. «I don’t usually say that it is autobiographical, but I took good note of sensations and details during my maternity. I also took into account stories from friends who were at the same time as me. I was obsessed with giving a real-life texture to the film, making everything feel everyday and naturalistic.” That is one of the main merits of ‘Cinco lobitos’, that nothing stands out or is melodramatic. We understand what it means to have a child in precarious Spain, to give up professional dreams when reality prevails, the importance that parents acquire when forming your character, even if you don’t support them…
“As a filmmaker, I like that magic by which the viewer becomes an invisible witness to other people’s lives,” explains this admirer of the films of Yasujiro Ozu and Hirokazu Kore-eda. «I wanted things to happen on an emotional level, even if they were disguised as everyday. We worked a lot with the actors to capture that in a discreet way and for the viewer to feel inside that house, in a privileged place. Normally we don’t see how people argue, how hard it is for them to tell each other according to what things. It is a very respectful privacy.” ‘Five little wolves’ is, of course, the story of a Basque family, not very nice or used to verbalizing their feelings. Hence, when a loophole appears through which feelings slip, the emotion of law arises. Like the wonderful scene in which Ramón Barea sings ‘Txoria txori’ by Mikel Laboa during a meal.
“It is a contained family, very northern, the archetype that I have known,” agrees Alauda. «It is a generation that understood affection from another place. For them, affection is caring for people, being strong and, when something happens, facing it with great integrity. This way of not talking about things clashes with my generation, which has been more childish, has grown up later ». There will be those who think that men do not look very good in the film, oblivious to parenting before and now. “I have had some comments in that regard,” he admits. «Now there is a tendency to read everything in a very political key. I bet more for personal relationships, for the intimate, I have not worked the film as a political manifesto. These male characters reflect true stories that I know, fathers who try to do well but work relationships do not allow it. Or parents of another previous generation who do not even know where to start with the education they have received. I have been autonomous for a long time, I know the fear of not being called. In the current conciliation, they almost always pay the labor toll more ».
In ‘Cinco lobitos’, according to its author, “there are no good or bad, villains or victims, just people who try to do their best and sometimes make the wrong decisions”. As in real life, the protagonists get by and discover “that things don’t get fixed in two days.” Are we better parents than ours? “Each generation lives according to its immediate reality,” replies the director. «As time passes it is easier to judge them, and I prefer to understand them, because many times they did the best they could».
With a degree in English Philology from the University of Deusto and a Diploma in Directing from the Madrid Community Film School (ECAM), Ruiz de Azúa has extensive experience in advertising and short films. All this baggage has helped him to face the jump to the length of it calmly, dwelling on her work with some superb actors, who will undoubtedly appear in the next Goya nominations. As proof of the work done, little Jone was embodied throughout her growth by seven different girls. «I couldn’t have written this story right out of Film School. I felt that I arrived at the shooting set with a technical and professional maturity. And I allowed myself the risk and the freedom to try to find my voice as a filmmaker, without staying in a safe and conventional place. Cinema is beautiful when there is a search and things come up. After her visit to Berlin and Malaga, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa already considers herself awarded. “One thing I’ve learned from being a mother is that you don’t have to make a lot of plans, but go day by day.”
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