Palm Trees in the Snow (2015) User Reviews

Moving and overlong melodrama in big budget with romances, emotion, thrills and exotic scenarios

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 16 June 2019]

Intense drama plenty of thrills, emotion, romance with Amor Fou and soap opera. Set in 1953 it deals with a young man Killian, Mario Casas, living in the remote mountains of Huesca, he alongside his older sibling Jacobo, Alain Hernandez, undertaking a new life, and embarking on a dangerous journey to Ecuatorial Guinea where is working their father, Emilio Gutierrez Caba, on a cacao plantation and subsequentlly taking place the troubled days of Independence and triumph by dictator Macias . Many years later, after the death her daddy, a young Spanish girl, Adriana Ugarte, finds out some unanswered questions by discovering a mysterious letter. As she searches for the answers and travels Africa on a risked trip that takes her back to Fernando Poo . Meanwhile, there takes place an Independence War with turmoil, confrontation, rebellion from African natives against the Spanish, leading to fateful consequences.

Dramatic movie concerning two brothers travel from Huesca which saw them to grow up to the exotic island of Fernando Poo where takes place several thrilling events, love stories and revolutionary upheaval. It packs a magnificent camera work, high production values, luxurious design, violent images and a lot of sex scenes, including intercourse on the beach. A lavish production with a deep criticism on Spanish colonialism of the fifties by using a great number of flashbacks and flashforwards. Average acting by Mario Casas as a young who never left the far mountains of Huesca and comes to Guinea to find knowledge, pain and maturity . Adriana Ugarte Is better than him as the young woman who unfolds secrets of her ascendants. Support cast is pretty good, such as Alain Hernandez, Macarena Garcia, Daniel Grao, Berta Vazquez, , Luis Callejo, Fernando Cayo, Djedje Apali, Petra Martinez, Celso Bugallo as an adult Killian and veteran incombustible Emilio Gutierrez Caba.

It displays a sensitive and stirring musical score by Lucas Vidal. It contains a brilliant and colorful cinematography by Xavi Gimenez. Shot on location in Llanos del Hospital Huesca, Bahia Solano, Colombia and Palmas de Gran Canaria. The motion picture written by Sergio G. Sanchez was well directed by Fernando Gonzalez Molina, but being extremely overlong, almost three hours . He has made some successful films as Brain drain, 3 steps above heaven, I want you and The invisible guardian. And he directed notorious Tv series as Paco's men, The boat, Luna el misterio de Calenda and a documentary, The best day of my life. Rating 7/10. Well worth watching.

A very good production values in a Spanish saga about the Guinea occupation

[abisio · 8/10 · 26 April 2016]

The tells the story of Kilian (Mario Casas); a young white worker that on 1958 arrives to Equatorial Guinea with his older brother to work (as a white manager) on a cacao plantation; and fell in love with a local native (not acceptable by the natives and due to the political turmoil become something forbidden).

In the present time; Kilian's niece decides to visit the place to find out information about her family history; so the tale become structured as a mix of flashbacks.

If the intention was criticism on Spanish colonialism; the movie limits the attack to a few bad seeds on both sides and the obvious cruelty (locals were paid but punished like slaves) is mostly diluted. In fact the portrait of the liberated Equatorial Guinea is far more depressing and cruel than the old one. The movie seems to say "you left us and see what you got into".

While the technical aspects of the movie are excellent (camera work, FX, action and/or violent scenes, sound effects), the editing somewhat confusing. If you do not pay attention to some names you will get lost in many characters relations.

There are also a few unnecessary scenes that make the movie lag.

The acting department is reasonable but on the white side; nobody really shines. On the native (black) side, performances are stronger and passionate even when characters do not have a lot of development.

As many European productions; there are some violent and plenty of nudity and (moderated) sex scenes. In Spain the movie was consider PG but like most of Europe; but I am pretty sure it will get an R in USA.

In brief; it is an interesting (but not perfect ) movie worth a look

Great Movie; English Dubbing HORRIBLE

[nakeiadiggs · 7/10 · 19 January 2019]

This is a great movie! However, I had to force myself to watch it until the end because of the English dubbing/voiceover did not align properly and match the characters emotions and etc. You have Africans depicting strong emotions but the dubbing is this monotoned all white American voice w/ no emotion. It doesn't match. Even the captioning was off. I would've preferred to watch the original version and select English captioning.

Mixed feelings

[mitsubishizero · 6/10 · 18 June 2019]

I have mixed feelings about this movie. I love Spanish movies so when I first saw this I liked it but watching it now I realize it hasn't aged well. I feel like the nude scenes distract from the story and how ridiculous some of it is. The movie's about a woman named Clarence (Adriana Ugarte) who goes to the island Bioko which's part of Equatorial Guinea to find out more about her estranged father Jacobo (Alain Hernández). Her father and his brother Kilian (Mario Casas) worked on a cocoa plantation owned by his Dad Anton (Emilio Gutiérrez Caba). His dad is one of the many colonist during the time when it was known as Spanish Guinea. While working there Kilian writes in his journal given prior to his trip and falls in love with Basilia (Berta Vazquez).

This leads to things getting complicated for the workers and the owners. I think the big problem is that it kind've glorifies colonialism. While it does show abuse of the workers and that not all of the colonists are evil no one really apologizes or reflects on the pain brought on to the natives. The acting is fine and the cinematography but the story's a little clunky and even insulting in some areas. A good example's a scene where this one character named Iniko initially distrust Clarence but then in the next scene they're on the beach having sex. Again I feel like that scene was there just to distract the viewer from the clunky plot. If you like spanish movies I guess you'll like this otherwise skip it.

I highly recommend this beautiful movie to every single one of you

[AnastasijaSp · 9/10 · 13 August 2017]

I have watched many and many movies and not every movie can actually leave a big influence on me. This one did it. "Palm trees in the snow" (or as I prefer in Spanish "Palmeras en la nieve") is very deep, sad, interesting too. You have to concentrate a lot to understand everything you need to. The biggest shock for my brain was when the movie ended and 10 minutes later I just started crying and couldn't stop. It has many historical things happening besides the actual movie plot. It made me think about lives of those people in Africa, second half of the 20th century. I am quite sure it will make you too. Brought to life by phenomenal actors, it will leave a mark in your head, I know it. Highly recommending it to you.

Love Through Slavery

[krmirani · 7/10 · 11 May 2020]

As Clarence is going through her uncle's things, she finds a fragment of a letter written by someone close to her late father. She discovers things about her family's past that lead her back to Equatorial Guinea where it all began. Based on the novel by Luz Gabás, Fernando González Molina's Palm Trees in the Snow (2015) invites viewers to reflect on colonial slavery through a story of unconditional love. The setting at the beginning of this historical drama is Pasolobino, Spain in 2003. With the discovery of the letter, the clock turns back time to 1954 and the audience sees her family's history playing out with younger versions of her father, uncle, and Guinean natives. At this point in history, Spain had colonies in what is now Equatorial Guinea. Kilian, Clarence's uncle, has just started working in the family cocoa plantation in what used to be Fernando Pó, Spanish Guinea. Kilian falls in love with Bisila, a native of Fernando Pó and one of the family's many slaves. When the political situation changes several years later, Kilian is forced to decide between his chosen family in Guinea and his home in Spain. Through Kilian loving Bisila, the audience sees the cruelty of slavery. Typical punishments like beatings are shown on screen, as well as the harsher reality of rape and fractured relationships. The actors' performances in these scenes effectively convey the pain of this trauma, both physical and emotional, especially since Kilian intended to be friends with the natives. This is particularly true of Simon who vowed to never speak another word in Spanish after the colonists left. Where the movie has its downfalls are in the Spanish characters. The majority of them are very set in their way of "I'm Spanish, therefore, I am above you". This mindset is solidified in characters like Clarence's uncle, whose dementia prevents him from acknowledging the ignorance in it. It is a downfall for this film because he is never able to come to terms with his past. The merits outweigh the downfalls making this movie well worth watching. The acting and message both are powerful. While it's true that slavery and the related concepts of friendship and identity are at the forefront of the movie, a secondary theme worth noting is that love will prevail through time, distance, and injustice.

This was special

[freddieprinze79 · 9/10 · 27 June 2018]

Powerful, tragic, beautiful, and it made me cry. I tell everyone about this movie and they all thank me afterwards

Surprisingly good!

[borgolarici · 7/10 · 19 March 2019]

I didn't really want to watch this movie because i thought it would be the average romantic movie with an exotic setting. But it's actually a good movie with interesting an likeable characters, and the spanish colonisation angle is treated with enough depth (mind you, it's not a documentary or a historical movie, so i am speaking comparatively). There are some common tropes here and there, but overalli is a good and entertaining movie.

Nothing Short of Phenomenal

[tosinmurana · 10/10 · 23 June 2020]

What a fantastic film with excellent cinematography. A great history lesson too. Beautiful storyline and deeply moving. Thak you so much for this film, I recommend it to EVERYONE.

The Lion King with Humans

[DLochner · 7/10 · 20 March 2021]

Eine schöne Unterhaltung allerdings etwas zu lan g. Zudem werden einige Themen der Kolonialzeit sehr vereinfacht und oberflächlich behandelt. Wer damit kein Problem hat, für den ist der Film optimale Unterhaltung. Die Bilder sind einfach wunderschön gefilmt und die Dramatik in der ungleichen Liebesgeschichte intensiv. Es ist nicht umsonst Spaniens teuerster Film 2015. Ein bisschen wie der König der Löwen mit Erwachsenen.

Absolutely beautiful!!

[amanigraham · 10/10 · 23 May 2020]

I just finished watching this absolutely beautiful film. It was sooo good that I got sucked into it!! WATCH IT!!

The writer needed to make a cute story

[ersbel · 18 January 2019]

The writer felt a need to make a cute love story. Now from here to there it is a long distance. So there is a stereotype start with a death and the woman who has a need to go where the writer has set the love story for her. A letter fragment. Why a fragment? Is that enough to spend so much time, energy and money? Of course, it is not the writer who is paying.

And the dialogue is as bad as the script: Momma, six thousand kilometers is nothing! I am not sure the illiterate peasants were aware what a kilometer is. Anyway, a person in 2019 has a hard time grasping anything more nuanced than "6000km is far".

Maybe it is because of bad direction. Maybe it is the nonsensical dialogue, but the acting is Star Wars prequel quality. And everything becomes just an excuse to make it a cosplay convention.

Heart warming story

[SnigBhaumik · 6/10 · 11 July 2019]

Beautiful locations, reassuring story line, brilliant actors, soothing soundtrack, wonderful cinematography, superb camera work, touching love story.

Makes you believe on love and humanity once again, that spreads across colors, races, borders, riches.

Only negatives are showing people of Guinea in a relatively backward color and custom, where as it might just be the opposite.

No depth given to black characters

[ashalatarawati · 5/10 · 9 August 2016]

Cringeworthy from beginning to end. Overly sexualized black bodies. The movie is all about the seductive, primal power the black women's bodies had over the white men. The black roles barely had any depth or character development. The black women are depicted as facile and oversexed. The black men are overly docile, stupidly superstitious, crazy-eyed angry and savagely violent.

Colonialism (which is essentially theft) is presented as a family business, not the systematic destruction of a country and its people. No one apologizes for it or reflects on it. The white characters are presented as fellow victims of circumstances, not willing participants in evil.

The narrative: Killian abandoned the civilized world to save her; the lighter-skinned (clearly mixed-race), and relatively chaste savage. Their love could only exist in a lawless, uncivilized underworld created by the bloodthirsty slave rebels. A tragic, cautionary tale. This is the same reinforced culturally separatist narrative routinely found in Spanish (and Portuguese) movies.

It's sad that these ill-considered movies are still being released in 2015. Thanks to the ongoing civil rights movement here in the U.S., modern filmmakers can't get away with this reckless narrative anymore.

Cinematography was beautiful, though.

I would recommend this

[padmere · 7/10 · 9 April 2019]

This was a beautiful shot film. There's a lot of love and a lot of sadness. It prove that. Caucasian race need to apologize to the black race. Your race brings death everywhere they go. The continent of Africa is beautiful.

True Art

[jasminedesdune · 10/10 · 2 June 2016]

This was one of the most beautiful and moving movies that I have seen in my entire life. It was shot and written so well, with wonderful acting that brought depth to the characters and substance to the plot. Though it was almost 3 hours, I could have watched so much more. I enjoyed the journey that I darted on with the characters and everything came full circle and was done so incredibly well.

The love shared by the two main characters was so deep and pure that I was moved to tears---sobbing, really---multiple times.

But it's more than a beautiful love story, it's life in art. Truly, a work of art. I'm so glad that I chose to watch it, I'm just so moved.

Slowly worked but crafted well.

[sala151183 · 8/10 · 6 April 2020]

It's a long film but sort of needs the time to get around all that goes on in the film. Slowly worked and well crafted, it's not the same film as the English patient but certainly had that similar feel to it. This film becomes hard to watch at times due to the hardened moments that we see unfold. I didn't know anything about this film prior to just putting it on so it was a nice surprise in enjoy it.

Killian

[RosaGreen55 · 9/10 · 3 January 2020]

I loved the role of Mario Casas as Killian but I wish he'd played the role of old Killian himself!

A wonderful movie 🙂

[pritypoddar · 8/10 · 16 February 2020]

Palm Trees In The Snow is an extremely well made classic, wherein true love and passion of the central characters has been carefully woven around the last 10-15 years of Spanish colonisation of Bioko in Equatorial Guinea.

It also showcases the selfless and relentless search of the main protagonist, in an absolutely foreign and unfriendly terrain, so that she can deliver justice and bring closure to her departed father and dementia suffering uncle.

All the actors have worked very well. But Berta Vázquez as Bisilia simply stands out. She has displayed a myriad range of emotions with equal ease and conviction.

Cringeworthy with English dubbing

[vswine · 4/10 · 6 January 2018]

I rarely cannot finish watching a movie, but finally gave up on this one with just 30 minutes left. The dubbing was dreadful, which had a negative impact on the acting performances, but the characters and narrative lacked depth and appealed to stereotypical typecasting of white males, particularly the lead character Killian, as victims of circumstance rather than perpetrators of evil in the history of colonialism; black women were portrayed as beautiful, oversexed seducers and black men mostly as stupid and violent. Rather than shedding light on the real history of Portuguese occupation of Guinea, it perpetrated stereotypes, including white women craving sex from dangerous, muscled, well-endowed black men. The main reason I watched the movie for as long as I did was the exceptional cinematography, which was breathtaking.

Very interesting if not poignant drama...

[graceoverpressuretheoneANDonly · 8/10 · 1 August 2019]

My only criticism was the poor English dubbing of language, which unfortunately, became laughable at moments, truly damaging the effect...Otherwise? If you pay attention and follow the plot-line, very interesting absorbing romance/drama with historical context and interest.

Palmeras en la Nieve: Highly Recommended

[niutta-enrico · 10/10 · 12 May 2017]

The Cinematographic transposition of Luz Gabás' (first) fine novel.

It's a wonderful story, very well adapted for the screen by Sergio G. Sánchez (screenplay) and Fernando González Molina (Director).

It's a great emotional tableau, dealing with Universal themes.

So no matter what age, race or gender you are: you will surrender to the romantic charm of Equatorial Africa at the end of the Colonial Era.

Finely produced masterpiece

[giorgiddd · 10/10 · 25 March 2020]

I have seen many Mario Casas movies and it is really inspiring how he has transformed. From "Three Steps Above Heaven" to "the Invisible Guest", this journey is simply extraordinary, but with Mario's flawless acting, "Palm Trees in the Snow" is the best Spanish-language film I have ever seen.

I would absolutely recommend this movie to anyone, who likes historical dramas, based on real events from our past and with some fictional details.

Scenes are breathtaking, featuring marvelous places from the Spanish mountains and Equatorial Guinea, Colors are beautiful, actors and actresses are acting so well, cinematography is above words, really finely produced masterpiece.

To be simple, this is a must watch movie!

Fabulous!

[daryn-22068 · 10/10 · 1 July 2017]

I loved this movie. It has to be one of the best movies I have seen in quite some time. It was almost 3 hours but I could have watched another hour for sure. I am not a big fan of subtitles but this time they weren't a huge deal. I was so into the movie! I would highly recommend this fabulous movie.

Embarrassing

[pauloseixas-26405 · 5/10 · 16 June 2020]

Good, but not direct, a bit embarrasing. The novel is complete and sometimes you get confused with the different times that the history happens