Lyrically languid, Sud Express is a compassionate and heartfelt drama depicting the universal loneliness and futility of life; its bleakness tempered with subtle stirrings of hope. Deftly using the famous Lisbon to Paris train to link six interrelated stories, the film focuses on the experiences of ordinary people living in its surrounds. Enacted in five languages, the film gently probes the politics of difference, visually commenting on the future of a borderless Europe, its cohesiveness currently more superficial than real.

In a poignant tale, Tino (Tino Guimaraes) leaves behind his squabble with his brother Joao (Fernando Tavares) and his life of quiet desperation in Santana, Portugal, to seek old flame Lucia (Lidia Pinville). Meanwhile in Paris, Lucia’s husband, bigoted taxi driver Samuel (Gerald Morales in a superb performance) alienates his acquaintances with his blatantly racist remarks. Two further threads delve into the issue of immigration, while the final two stories are set in Salamanca. Frequently desolate and mildly bleached of colour, the characters reflect the gorgeously lit aesthetic of the industrialised wasteland as well as the rural landscape.

In many ways, Sud Express displays the sensibilities of a documentary. Its cast is largely non-professional, diegetic sounds dominate and jar, and rough camerawork lends an authentic realism. Through all the scenes are shown chronologically, sharp editing and quick cutting of sequences breaks continuity, meaning that the audience is always the outsider, offered only fragmentary glimpses of the characters’ lives. Dialogue is used to great effect; at times witty, in other instances inadequate to express the intricacies of human emotion or carrying the unmistakable whiff of ulterior subtext.

Ignoring grand narrative, Sud Express quietly chugs along, resulting in a deeply nuanced and heartrending film. A resonant final shot enforces the film’s underlying theme; that through changing ingrained and restrictive attitudes, social unity and a bright future for Europe is infinitely possible.

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