The North

"Chris" (Bart Harder) and his friend "Lluis" (Charles Pulido) haven't seen each other for the best part of a decade, since they were college roommates, when they reunite to undertake the 600km walk from Milngavie near Glasgow all the way up the west of Scotland to Cape Wrath. Equipped only with what they can carry, the pair set off and as we enjoy the beautiful scenery - and the blood-sucking midgies feast on the two men - we begin to understand that this isn't a straightforward relationship. Their problem, and so what turns out to be a problem for us too, is that they cannot or choose not to communicate beyond the superficial niceties. We do glean a little of their underlying issues via chats they have with others they encounter on their trek, but for the most part we are left in the dark as to what, if anything, is simmering away between the men. "Chris" is frequently being troubled by his soon to be employers who don't quite appreciate that a mobile phone signal on Wester Ross is rarer than hen's teeth, and we learn that "Lluis" has had his own recent brush with mortality but what we just don't get is any sense of what is causing, or has caused, this obvious wedge to have been driven between the men. It's not remotely homo-erotic, even when they share a tent for the best part of a month, so it doesn't seem likely to have been an earlier "Brokeback Mountain" experience, and so with the source of this niggle proving frustratingly undeveloped I started to find myself increasingly disinterested in their undercooked characterisations and settling back more to appreciate the photography and to recall my own experience walking the West Highland Way where the bugs, the squeaking airbags and the relentless rain ensured that I'd never want to do it again. There is some humour here, usually generated by the scenario rather than the dialogue, but the conclusion is drawn out a bit and I'm afraid I left the packed cinema just a little bit underwhelmed. Great to look at though, but disappointing.