The inspiration for Aita, director José María de Orbe’s gorgeous blend of documentary and fiction filmmaking, was a poem by the Peruvian poet César Vallejo. It speaks of a house as a witness to life, versing, for instance, “New houses are deader than old ones, for their walls are of stone or steel, but not of men.” A centuries-old Basque home is the centerpiece of Aita, and, indeed, it teems with life, reminiscing of its own history as if sentient. Like a ghost story of sorts, when the lights are out and the elderly caretaker is not present, decomposed nitrate films flicker on the walls of the decaying estate. In these scenes, Orbe presents a memorable interaction between two aged…

The inspiration for Aita, director José María de Orbe’s gorgeous blend of documentary and fiction filmmaking, was a poem by the Peruvian poet César Vallejo. It speaks of a house as a witness to life, versing, for instance, “New houses are deader than old ones, for their walls are of stone or steel, but not of men.” A centuries-old Basque home is the centerpiece of Aita, and, indeed, it teems with life, reminiscing of its own history as if sentient. Like a ghost story of sorts, when the lights are out and the elderly caretaker is not present, decomposed nitrate films flicker on the walls of the decaying estate. In these scenes, Orbe presents a memorable interaction between two aged…

(NOTE: Aita means “father” in basque)

Parenthood is a stage in life that consumes us; it demands we focus our attention, stamina, and love on a child. José María de Orbe’s film is one that is built on a similar idea but shows us that the foundations of parenthood sometimes go beyond a parent and child.

What is “Aita?” Within minutes, it is obvious it is a film blurring the line between a work of fiction and a documentary. At the screening I went to, it was mentioned that the people we see in the film are people who actually do what they do in the film in their daily lives. Evoking the Italian neo-realist notion that if your movie…