Berta

Nothing attracts the attention of a certain sort of man more quickly than a woman looking as if she’s trying to do something of which she’s not fully confident. “Are you listening to a tutorial?” asks Álex (Elías González) as he approaches, watching her, with her headphones on, figuring out how to attach the car to her truck. Such is his enthusiasm for explaining her job to her that he stumbles over the case he wanted to make: persuading her not to take the car, as it’s his.

When arguments and bribes fail to cut it, he agrees to accompany her to the lock-up where he can pay a fine and recover it, and climbs into her cab. This is a mistake. Though he doesn’t remember it, he has met her before. She wasn’t confident then, either, being very young – but now that’s beginning to change.

There have been a number of short films, and even the occasional feature, following the same lines as this one, but writer/director Lucía Forner Segarra achieves something more interesting by making her characters more human. Berta (Nerea Barros) is ready to take action, but it has clearly been hard to get that far, and actually doing it is still hard. After each step, she takes a moment to calm herself down, repeating a well-rehearsed mantra. When she struggles to find words, she uses prompt cards. She’s well prepared. The smiley face badge on her jacket speaks to a determination to live life as more than tragedy. it’s as fierce, in its way, as anything she does.

This being a short – part of the Born of Woman strand at Fantasia 2024 - it’s difficult to say much more without giving away too much. What can be said is that the film balances sentiments well, with the characters’ rough edges enhancing the tension in a tightly structed scenario. Segarra takes a mature approach throughout, and her preference for realism over easy wit or stylishness still leaves room for humour – even in the darkest of places. It also allows her to make a realistic pitch for change, which goes beyond the reductive logic of mutual violence. With a terrific performance from Barros, this is a refreshing and intelligent take on its subject, and worth looking out for.