Gabriel und der Berg (2017)

Gabriel und der Berg: Directed by Fellipe Barbosa. With João Pedro Zappa, Caroline Abras, Alex Alembe, Rashidi Athuman. Before entering a prestigious American university, Gabriel Buchmann decided to travel the world for one year, his backpack full of dreams. After ten months on the road, he arrived in Kenya determined to discover the African continent. Until he reached the top of Mount Mulanje, Malawi, his last destination.

“GABRIEL AND THE MOUNTAIN is based on the true story of Brazilian student Gabriel Buchmann played by Joao Zappa) who takes a year off to hike in Africa before continuing his education in 2009. After a brief prologue, we pick up Gabrielu0026#39;s trip about two months before itu0026#39;s scheduled end (the movie is broken down into four chapters: Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi). u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn Tanzania, Gabriel greets his Brazilian girlfriend Cristina (Caroline Abras) and she remains for the Zambian portion of the story. While Cristinau0026#39;s presence give the movie some background into Gabriel, it conversely, also impedes the progress of it. The Kenya and Malawi chapters are interesting as they depict Gabriel exploring alone and having to make friends with the locals he meets along the way. Boyfriend and girlfriend stories are commonplace. Further, the couple end up visiting tourist sites – again, a diminution of the taleu0026#39;s exploration theme. Abras is good in the role, but it smacks of the commercial needs of the filmmakers over their artistic ones. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhatu0026#39;s most interesting about the movie is Director Fellipe Barbosau0026#39;s decision to use the actual people Gabriel met along the way to play themselves, with a couple of exceptions*. While not professional performers, it gives the movie a verisimilitude above and beyond the norm. Barbosa also has the people do voice-overs of their present day feelings for Gabriel, a decade later. Itu0026#39;s an interesting device, even if takes some getting used to (one is reminded of Terence Malicku0026#39;s recent work). u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Voice-overs and the Chapters are intended to give the movie a structure, but, it isnu0026#39;t fully satisfying. We never get a true sense of the full year-long journey. Gabriel himself is depicted as a prickly, selfish sort. One gives the Barbosa credit for not making him into a saint, but, it can be difficult to fully identify with him, or his adventure. Ultimately, one feels a bit frustrated – much like Gabrielu0026#39;s trip itself. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003en* The main exception is Cristina, his girlfriend. Understandable, considering the circumstances.”