Aita

Described as a "high-art variation on the haunted-house movie", this Spanish film is set in a dilapidated, empty house in the Basque country. When the local priest comes to visit the elderly caretaker the secrets of the mysterious house begin to reveal themselves…

"'History is slow, life is fast' in this ancient place once traversed by pilgrims on the Way of Saint James. The caretaker and his friend, a priest, playfully ponder mortality while planes of light shimmer and the darkness reverberates with flickering images from bygone eras. Past momentarily haunts the present as images appear on a grainy wall-screen, as though emanating from the edifice’s very stones. Dilapidated splendour and illustrious heritage don’t beguile every visitor: young thieves ransack the place, destructively impervious to the radiance of shadows." (Source: NZ International Film Festival 2011)

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