The Other Side

The dark and deep mood of the American South surrounds you in this acclaimed critic's hit from Cannes, coming from Italian director Roberto Minervini - a lyrical talent amongst modern documentarists.  Based in Texas and specialising in portrayals of life in the American South, he creates films that surround you with their immediacy and evocative stream of images.

“The Other Side” takes place in dark and deep Louisiana in something that in any other film could quickly be reduced to “white trash” territory. Here, we find Mark, a drug addict and (as we later learn) a fugitive, who in the first scene wakes up stark naked and bruised on a deserted road, and tries to get his life back on track, while his seriously ill mother is dying. In the wings are drunkards, other drug addicts and a group of gun-toting paramilitary fanatics, who all have tears in their eyes when they talk of freedom and independence – two pillars of the American Dream.