Of all my favorite movies of 2023, I think I was most surprised by The Eight Mountains. I remember watching the trailer on the Criterion Channel and thought it looked nice. I wasn’t expecting such a touching look at platonic friendship. The Italian film from husband and wife directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch was a beautiful film about two childhood friends who grow into different people and the mark they leave on each other.
Pietro is an 11-year-old boy on summer holiday with his parents in the Italian Alps. There he meets Bruno, the only other boy in this mountain village. The two boys become quick friends, and as the summer ends Pietro’s parents offer to take Bruno back to Turin with them so he can receive an education. Bruno stays in the mountains, however.
The movie moves through time, as each boy grows up, with only intermittent contact with each other. Bruno remains firmly rooted in the mountains, with dreams of owning a dairy farm. Pietro has a greater desire to go out in the world. It isn’t until the Pietro’s father passes away that the two reconnect. Bruno promised Pietro’s father that he’d help him build a cabin in the mountains, and enlists Pietro to fulfill that promise.
It’s among these peaks that the film is at its best. Not only for the stunning cinematography but also the relationship between the two characters. They both carry a lot of emotional baggage with them, and the performances here are terrific. I think this movie relies on the viewer believing in the relationship between Pietro and Bruno. Actors Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi do an excellent job. Bruno is stubborn and as immovable as the mountains around him. Pietro is aimless, he struggles to find purpose in his life. It feels as if these two men met as adults they would have nothing to say to each other. But the connection to their youth and relationship with Pietro’s father make for a friendship that feels authentic.
The two care about each other but there is always something pulling them apart. Like the cabin they built in the mountains, their friendship needs to be maintained or it falls apart. The soundtrack features a song with the line “Everything you know,
melts away like snow,” and that’s a sad thought, but also a weirdly comforting reminder to take care of what you have before it’s gone.
The music is something that deserves special mention. Almost exclusively featuring songs from Swedish songwriter Daniel Norgren. These songs create an almost eerie feeling throughout, as if these two men are the last two people on Earth when they are together. It makes for an incredible soundscape. Paired with the beautiful images of the mountains and valleys and you get something moving.
The film is a tale of male friendship, something that isn’t usually handled in such a deep and meaningful way. It’s also about how we all grow as people and how the relationships we build impact who we are even if those friendships don’t last forever.