Tony (Antonio Lerma Batista) and Evaristo (Evaristo Lerma Batista) are two brothers who would prefer a donkey - or better a horse - to riding a bicycle or walking. School is finishing and although Tony has won a scholarship to High School, he isn't interested. In their rural backwater in Mexico, school seems less useful than the practicalities of getting a living from the land.

Tony tosses his school back-pack into a tree, and they watch a horseman gallop through the mist. They overhear local radio broadcasting an appeal to take some medicine to an isolated ranch in a distant canyon. They realise it is a relation of theirs who needs the medicine, and decide to ask their grand-dad if they can borrow his horse. Up till now their lives have been fairly normal. Once they take grand-dad's horse without asking, things change. A simply journey becomes complicated because they don't know the way.

The scenery is unusual - the Valley of Erect Penises ends in them getting totally lost by a precipitous waterfall. Worse follows as they ask the way, and the horse has been stolen or escaped its tether. As they walk into some (gorgeously-shot) misty woods, they become separated. Each has his own adventure - a deserted school; a strange ball-race that everyone bets on; a young woman's party because it is her birthday/saint's day. Each wonders about the lost horse, the way to the ranch, and how to get back.

Although the boys are separated, there is a giant sense of freedom as they move through the landscape. Kindness of strangers is accepted as normal. Each boy meets and overcomes challenges. Eventually the medicine is delivered. A message is left on the radio. They manage to meet and set off home. They are growing up and maturely discuss possible and imaginative explanations of where the horse has gone. There's calmness and acceptance as they trudge through the mist and rain back to grand-dad. The ending is both expected and unexpected. What has happened to the horse and what each brother will do next are made clear.

Cochochi is a simple story, simply told. It's a well-observed rite of passage, closely-observed and convincing. The people are believable; as straightforward and genuine as the story.

CAST: (imdb): www.imdb.com/title/tt0841017/

COMPANY: (imdb): www.imdb.com/title/tt0841017/

END

(c) Peter Andrews 2008

reviewed Tuesday 2 December 08 / The Electra, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

www.fringereport.com