Jake Williams in Bogancloch

BOGANCLOCH
Directed by Ben Rivers
Certificate: PG
☆☆☆☆☆

THE crispy crackle of kindling as it catches, the wind in the pines, the creaks and groans of an old caravan’s suspension as it trundles unwittingly pulled down a track, the chew and slurp of a meal heartily consumed, and the birdsong that floats above all the other sounds.

Bogancloch is a slow-paced adventure that follows the daily routine of Scottish hermit Jake Williams. Its black and white footage is married to a sensuous soundtrack, as much of the atmosphere as the grainy footage of the subject matter.

Rivers has covered Jake’s life in two previous films – This Is My Land (2006), a short, and Two Years At Sea (2011), a feature.

Jake is a striking subject and an antidote to the pains and perils of our modern world. He subsists, exists in the forests and uplands of Aberdeenshire, a hermit of sorts (though we are party to him giving a class of bemused school children a lesson on the movement of the planets and stars, aided by a home-made solarium crafted from an old pub garden parasol with Tennent’s Lager emblazoned across where the Milky Way could be).

We are not told why he is in this classroom, but it is just one of a million questions Jake’s lifestyle prompts. Jake himself is a striking figure – white hair, white beard and a dress sense that shows he has dodged the tyranny of self-image.

Rivers lets the film breathe gently, keeping the black and white 16mm camera rolling from a secluded distance. Nothing moves fast in Jake’s world and by agreeing to be invited into his life, we have to agree to slow down, too. The rare dashes of colour come when the camera fixes on decaying photographs of Jake’s previous adventures, traversing the world with the Merchant Navy, while a sack of tapes he rummages through feature singers in Arabic.

We are not told, of course, how he has come by them but as with every scene, we are invited to fill in the blanks.

Rivers has found a fascinating muse in Jake, and does the man’s story justice. A truly moving and beautiful experience, this gentle exploration offers an escape route from the mayhem of Modernity.