Koldo Almandoz’ The Deer is a film that, to its credit, reflects a reality where people of different ages and races mix everywhere, even in homogeneous areas like Basque Spain. It follows Khalil (Laula Ahmed Saleh), a twentysomething immigrant from Western Sahara. He has enough friends and the one sexual partner from within his own age. Although sadly, that latter character won’t openly acknowledge him to her family. The more interesting characters from from outside Khalil’s generation though. The first is Jose Ramon (Patxi Bisquert), a man who likes to fish in parks illegally. And Jose Ramon lives with his brother Martin (Ramon Agirre) but they don’t talk to each other.
In setting up these characters, The Deer can turn into anything. To its credit, its most interesting relationship is between Khalil and Jose Ramon, the latter constantly braying at the former. And that’s because he chooses a motorcycle as his preferred way to travel. Motorcycles are conspicuous, especially for the job that they’re doing. Again, this secondary point can go anywhere. Khalil might stop differentiating Jose Ramon’s tough love with the racism that he gets from the locals regardless of age. It might push him away from Jose Ramon and into Martin. He’s a social pariah and not just because of his sexuality.
There aren’t many films in the Basque language. So it’s interesting to see it in signs everywhere here. That’s especially true since we’re seeing Basque culture under the eyes of one of its protagonists who is Arab. It’s too bad that The Deer doesn’t have any insight on this cultural palimpsest outside from the fact that it exists. And yes, viewers must consider that an Arab immigrant here is going to be different from ones in Basque Spain. But the film reinforces stereotypes about immigrants who can’t find meaningful connections. There are films from half a century ago that feel more progressive than this one from 2018.
Khalil isn’t the only stereotype here. Another is Martin. Yes, I know that not everyone is comfortable with their sexuality. But there must be a better approach to characters who haven’t dipped their toes in their sexuality yet. The Deer also doesn’t start the friendship between Khalil and Martin until an hour into the film. I know it feels conventional to start that arc earlier, but sometimes the conventional approach is the better one. The reveal about Martin also doesn’t feel as shocking as it should be. And the fallout of that revelation feels more like a whimper than a bang.
Catch The Deer on OVID.
