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Based on the novel by the late I Bruce Chatwin, On The Black Hill is a chronicle-like portrait of rural life in the Welsh border country. Set against the major events of the 20th century, the film is a moving saga of four generations of a country family. At the film's centre is the relationship between Benjamin and Lewis Jones. Identical twin brothers, their lives have remained inextricably linked through the trauma of World War 1, their failed attempts at love, and the death of their parents. Now, on their 80th birthday, they await the arrival of their great nephew and sole heir, Kevin, who will take them for a flight over their farmlands.
'It is a film which displays, without sentimentality, the immense and unchanging forces of nature, making one wonder why it is that British filmmakers (with the outstanding exception of Michael Powell) have so consistently shied away from the splendour of their own landscape.' - programme notes, San Francisco Film Festival.
MIFF 1989