“Jauja” is an art-house film. What is art-house? Art-house films are sometimes art, sometimes they’re pretentious, usually they have subtitles, and often they implode the skull with boredom by attempting to go outside the tried-and-true (*ahem* fun) laws of cinematic storytelling.
As mentioned, “Jauja” is one such art-house film, and a South American Western to boot. It’s a little comedic, with a tiny smidgen of drama, a disturbing slaying or two, and a lot of grass for you to literally watch growing. The actors watch the grass grow too. Like right here. Look at them watching the grass grow. Very artistic.
![Ingeborg (Viilbjork Malling Agger) and her father, Gunnar Dinesen (Viggo Mortensen), watching grass grow, in "Jauja." (The Cinema Guild)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F03%2F20%2FScreen-Shot-2020-09-20-at-3.30.13-PM.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
The main attraction: megastar Viggo Mortensen of “The Lord of the Rings.” He’s speaking Danish and Spanish here. So check the subtitles box.
![Gunnar Dinesen (Viggo Mortensen) scopes out copious amounts of grass in "Jauja." (The Cinema Guild)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F03%2F20%2FScreen-Shot-2020-09-20-at-3.28.41-PM.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
But, well, you know ... enjoy? See, for me, checking the bored-silly box automatically creates an “I did not enjoy it” box, which I find I must vehemently check. Maybe you like watching grass grow. What do I know?
![Gunnar Dinesen (Viggo Mortensen) walking in the grass, in "Jauja." (The Cinema Guild)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F03%2F20%2FScreen-Shot-2020-09-20-at-3.27.52-PM.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Opening with a much-longer-than-“Star Wars” text, we learn that “Jauja” was the name of the former capital of Spanish Peru. It also means “Unattainable Utopia.”
Down thereabouts in Patagonia, there was a “Conquest of the Desert,” around 1882. The Spaniards and the Danes are warring over some great, green, grassy tracts of land. There’s also a genocide of South American Indians happening.
![Gunnar Dinesen (Viggo Mortensen) has a drink, while looking at grass, in "Jauja." (The Cinema Guild)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F03%2F20%2FScreen-Shot-2020-09-20-at-3.27.23-PM.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Lanky, bearded, slightly inept Danish captain Dinesen (Mortensen) is working as an engineer with the Argentine army.
![Gunnar Dinesen (Viggo Mortensen) looks down at his feet, standing in the grass, in "Jauja." (The Cinema Guild)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F03%2F20%2FScreen-Shot-2020-09-20-at-3.28.20-PM.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
His daughter Ingeborg (Viilbjork Malling Agger) is a 15-year-old Scandinavian blonde and comely bit of jailbait, the only female around for miles and miles. She’s sought after by a quietly disgusting, older Spanish soldier. (He asks her father if he can take her to the ball.) She eventually hightails it out of there with a handsome young Spanish soldier. Smart girl.
![Gunnar Dinesen (Viggo Mortensen, L) being asked by a soldier (Diego Roman) whether he can take Gunnar's teenage daughter on a date, in "Jauja." (The Cinema Guild)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F03%2F20%2FScreen-Shot-2020-09-20-at-3.26.01-PM.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
And … Grass
Mostly. To sum up, you’ve got walking through grass, riding a horse through grass, and sitting amid the grass. And there’s a stream. And some boulders. And even a cave with an old woman in it. A few grisly kills. But mostly there’s grass. And it grows. Green. Sometimes yellow.![Gunnar Dinesen (Viggo Mortensen) rides his horse through the grass, in "Jauja." (The Cinema Guild)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F03%2F20%2FScreen-Shot-2020-09-20-at-3.29.16-PM.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Does he find his daughter? Can’t tell you. He does find a dog. A large, flea-bitten Irish wolfhound with that itchy, hot patch dogs sometimes get when they get nervous and upset. He follows the dog, hither and thither. Through the grass.
![Gunnar Dinesen (Viggo Mortensen) finds a dog sitting in a puddle in the middle of grass, in "Jauja." (The Cinema Guild)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F03%2F20%2FScreen-Shot-2020-09-20-at-3.28.56-PM.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
![Ingeborg (Viilbjork Malling Agger) in present-day Denmark, in "Jauja." (The Cinema Guild)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F03%2F20%2FScreen-Shot-2020-09-20-at-3.30.30-PM.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Should that be profound? Unfortunately, the only thought that comes to mind is that, since this is 1882, it’s a shame they don’t yet have those white plastic funnels to put on the dog’s head to keep it from scratching.
![Ingeborg (Viilbjork Malling Agger) in an earlier century, in "Jauja." (The Cinema Guild)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F03%2F20%2FScreen-Shot-2020-09-20-at-3.25.02-PM.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Nobody’s geared to appreciate this kind of cinematic experience these days. Unless perhaps told beforehand: “Assume a meditative state.” Interesting to hear Danish-American Viggo’s Danish (and Spanish), though.