It's common knowledge that climate change is altering the world as we know it day by day, and numerous documentaries have been produced over the years to reinforce the severity of this issue. However, with this new film, Only On Earth, director Robin Petré has veered away from the more factual and traditional documentary format and has instead opted for a more observational approach that speaks for itself.
This film works in many ways due to its simplicity. Over the course of its 93-minute runtime, the camera quietly observes the inhabitants of a small Spanish village as well as the wildlife and landscapes that surround them. The camera never forces its way into the scenarios and instead just lets them play out, making the audience very much feel like a fly on the wall. These shots, which are beautifully captured by cinematographer María Goya Barquet, do a fantastic job of getting the core themes of the film across just through its visuals with each frame being just as dynamic and captivating as the last.
Petré's decision to commit to this naturalistic, slice-of-life style really pays off during the final 30/20 minutes, where the wildfires, which have been discussed on and off over its runtime, take centre stage as the villagers look on in horror as the sky fills with smoke. The intensity of the fires is made more haunting by the occasional use of music. As the film relies heavily on the sounds of nature, the inclusion of a droning, ambient score on shots of the local countryside makes these normally picturesque shots feel almost foreboding in appearance.
However, it is the simplified approach that can also be a hindrance to the film at times. There is little to no structure or coherence to the images being shown, which can make this otherwise straightforward concept a bit hard to follow in places. One second, the film will show a herd of horses being aggressively wrangled by a group of men before cutting to wind turbines in a nearby field, which then cuts to a lamb being born. These moments are shocking, intimate and poignant as separate scenes, but as a whole, it can come across as slightly meandering in execution, which then takes away from the point the film itself is trying to prove.
Though the film goes out of its way to highlight a few specific individuals within the village, there is no one defining person whom we follow throughout the course of the film. This deliberately meandering approach works fine for establishing the message it wants to examine, but due to a lack of any narrative cohesion between shots or a singular person to emotionally connect and resonate with, it means that these vital messages stay at a surface level across the entire film.
It must be reiterated that Only On Earth, from a filmmaking perspective, is a striking and powerful achievement that makes its purpose as clear as day. However, just relying on its visuals alone is to its detriment as it lacks the structure and personal point of view it needs to make its messages hit as hard as it wants them to.
Only On Earth will be screening at the London Film Festival 2025.
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