Oh, the dramas the Swiss Alps have witnessed! With such a view, a view to kill, who wouldn’t be inspired into tragedy, swaying into emotional clutter in perpetuity? Director Jan-Willem van Ewijk is set here to harness this disarming landscape and place his tribute to the perilous majesty it bounds within. “ALPHA.” is undeniably an eye-pleasing spectacle, sure to captivate anyone into snowboarding, though perhaps not those who fear it. Yet, as the film unfolds, its merit expands far beyond mere visual appeal.
The premise of this film is quite linear; an intractable, emotionally beaten son (Rein) is reluctantly forced to confront his estranged father, Gijs, who intrudes upon his self-imposed isolation. Past traumatic events coupled with a lack of communication and emotional exchange have accumulated into a suffocating dynamic, a relationship weighted by unresolved tension now in the flesh, leading to a disastrous attempt at reconciliation. Rein and Gijs (respectively, son and father on and off the screen) are great gatekeepers of their healed or unhealed wounds, and they are not doing so bad in defending their rough character either.
While Rein has steeped himself in self-misery and silent resentment, hinting nonetheless at a desire to run a life full of love. Meanwhile, Gijs arrives not to reclaim his past life with his son but to rejuvenate his social energy and let loose any insolent tendencies in his demeanor. Between them stand the mountains. Eternal gods of purgation as they are, in this case, do not only promise a getaway through doses of meditation-fueled adrenaline but also a rare chance for qualitative time for these two estranged to reset and maybe connect anew. But make no mistake: the mountains don’t permit or excuse; they don’t forgive or offer respite. In short, they are not kidding.
At this critical point of the story—with no intention to forge any information that would rob you of the surprise—it offers some magnificent cinematic constructions. Anyhow and anyway, the moment will come, literally speaking or metaphorically, when an avalanche will sweep through and clear the air, but the excruciating billow of snow will linger. No amount of goodwill or heroic acts can battle against the raw force of nature. Now that we (audience and narrators) have that clear let’s resume for a second, to the point where “ALPHA.”, in fact, skillfully wires some exceptional opportunities for cinematic experience. In essence, it incites a conversation over post-traumatic guilt and its physical manifestation.
This is a matter I found myself being fascinated by at the end of the screening, not only because I lost my breath there for a moment, but mainly because it is something that we have seen on the big screen before (most notably, “Force Majeure,” directed by Ruben Östlund back in 2014). When it comes to human physical endurance or strength, we might be more or less aware of our limits or otherwise human fragility, but the limits of the mind are yet an obscure territory.
Moreover, the mind and the psyche confronted with mystified and unforgiving natural forces and the disasters they might bring (from a human perspective) is such a powerful (and honestly, underrepresented yet ever-relevant) topic that the Dutch director here kept it as a disclosed chapter—or perhaps introduced it exponentially. Shots of the characters doing scenes in silence (which is a rather generous act for the actors), dressing up and securing their equipment, or them being at the moment after the dialogue is long gone, with no added contemplation drama, do some luring of being in the character’s shoes and do prepare the ground for empathetic engagement with what—at least for me—came to be around the post-traumatic experiences, defeated by nature.
Though I am still puzzled by the name, “ALPHA.” seems to be the thematic successor of “ATLANIC.” the film directed by van Ewijk in 2014 with apparently similar exploration lines, ua against nature’s vast, overwhelming forces. It’s inspiring to have directors devoted to themes (meta-level not included), be it exploring human vulnerability in stark, natural settings.
P.S. While I am amazed by the surprising thrill this film kept quiet, let alone some serious acting, and awed by the outmost cinematic experience that changed the rhythm of my breath for a bit, I couldn’t help but wonder: Why does every story set against the backdrop of nature’s raw power, always seem to orbit around the male psyche? Why is every mountain drama just so masculine?
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