INTERVIEW: New film ‘Eureka’ is really three films in one
Photo: Eureka follows three different stories that center on Indigenous communities throughout North and South America; one story features Alaina Clifford. Photo courtesy of Film Movement / Provided by Foundry Comm with permission.
Eureka, the new film from director Lisandro Alonso, features three stories that span the North and South American continents, with a focus on narratives involving Indigenous communities living in the past and present, according to press notes. In one segment, audience members follow characters in a cinematically typical western town that feels plucked from a 1940s big screen directed by John Ford. There are also contemporary scenes that center on families living on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and 1970s Brazil and its unique jungle environment are also important settings. Taken together, Alonso’s creation, working off a script he co-wrote with Martin Caamaño and Fabian Casas, offers a multilayered portrait of the tensions, prejudices, opportunities and hope that impact communities that are native to the most unique of lands.
Alonso was inspired to make Eureka after some experiences he had making his previous film, Jauja. Incidentally both movies star Viggo Mortensen in prominent roles. In Eureka, he’s also joined by Chiara Mastroianni, Alaina Clifford, Sadie LaPointe and Viilbjørk Malling Agger.
“Before I started thinking about this new movie, I just keep thinking [of] the couple of natives who appear in my previous film called Jauja,” Alonso said in a recent interview. “I just keep thinking, OK, in time I should do some more sequences with these two guys. Immediately I started to think [which] films represent natives. … And immediately I just go to western films from the U.S.”
Thinking of these 70-year-old westerns gave Alonso the idea of a black-and-white story that features hard justice in a dusty old town, but simply having this historical snapshot — one that on its surface feels dated to modern audiences — would do a disservice to the message he was trying to convey. He wanted to go deeper into the many issues impacting Indigenous communities and how they’ve been portrayed throughout history, so he thought of a second segment, this one focused on characters living in contemporary times.
“Then I thought, OK, why [can’t] I can contrast that reality with the South American reality on how we treat natives in a more inclusive way,” he said. “That was more or less the main idea or starting point by me and Fabian Casas and Martin Caamaño. The three of us we just started writing this idea that I have in mind, especially because I really want to shoot in the places that the film was shot, and that’s the main starting point for me, just by choosing the places where I want to approach and put the camera.”
Alonso, whose other films include the trilogy La Libertad, Los Muertos and Fantasma, believes his latest project is more like a painting or a poem than a traditional movie. Yes, it’s a feature-length project, but he’s offering three different perspectives to consider, almost like chapters in a book.
“When I start thinking [about] this project, also I read a book from Cormac McCarthy called Blood Meridian,” the director said. “[It’s] a novel based on … the 1800s or something like that. … We are in 2024, but I think things are more or less the same. I don’t think we as a group of humans just grow up in the best way.”
He added: “It takes a lot of time for us to change our culture, I guess.”
And by having historical scenes reside right next to contemporary images, one can appreciate Alonso’s thesis about the past informing the present and the consideration of whether much change has occurred.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Eureka, co-written and directed by Lisandro Alonso, is now playing in movie theaters. Interview obtained with the help of Foundry Comm. Click here for more information.
