Palm Trees in the Snow (2015)

A steamy, romantic, beautiful story about forbidden love in a faraway place and time, epic in scale and in length. A wonderful surprise.

As a period piece, the scenery is exquisite and the sets are wonderfully authentic. It feels like we were really there, with only CGI ships and planes breaking the illusion momentarily.

The story’s reminiscent of Dances with Wolves and Avater, isn’t it? How many times has this story been told? In this telling, jumping back and forth to tell the present day and the historical stories simultaneously works well. Heavily scored, but not overdone. The score is beautiful and appropriately matches the emotions of each scene.

Quality underacting from, at least to me, unfamiliar faces gives performances that feel truly believable and authentic for the time. Some of these faces, though, do seem strangely familiar. Mario Casas as Killian has a Tom Hardy vibe with perhaps a sprinkling of Steven Seagal, Alain Hernández as Jacobo has Errol Flynn’s suaveness mixed with Luke Wilson’s squinty reserve. Adriana Ugarte as Clarence looks familiar, but I can’t place it.