Paul Urkijo’s first feature film, Errementari, excites the public’s imagination, a fantastic story based on Patxi Errementaria’s story. The Basque Country is also an instrument to give strength to this peculiar environment of mystery. Some characters speak Basque Alavés, others speak Basque in common... this curious and effective mix takes us to remote places and times and also highlights the differences between the characters. Should the same be said of a humble citizen and an ostentatious Commissioner of Parliament? In Errementari no.

Although the original script has been written by Paul Urkijo himself, the translator Gorka Lazkano has dealt with language issues. At first, the words they needed in unified Basque began to take a different color. “He proposed to use the Basque country in Alavés and I found it an interesting touch,” Urkijo tells us. “It was clear that I needed an old Basque because history is set in the 19th century.” As it is a film located in the Alavesa Mountain, the idea was to base itself on the variant that was once spoken in the east of Álava, as explained by Lazkano: “We saw that it was possible to make some arrangements with some ancient Eastern writings and create an understandable language.” They are based on what was written in the 18th century by Joan Bautista Gamiz of the town of Sabando: “It’s the one closest to time and place of history.”

The linguist Koldo Zuazo has been advised, since since 1989 he has dedicated himself to the reconstruction of the characteristics of the Basque country in Álava. It has many ancient texts and testimonies, including the 238 verses of Gamiz. After almost three decades of work, the linguist Eibarresa tells us that her curiosity is still not “satisfied”. Gorka Lazkano's lighthouse has been his book Arabako euskara, in the experiment of putting the characters talking in Arabic. In addition, Zuazo read the script and made suggestions. “With Koldo’s contribution I saw everything clearer, especially as regards the verb,” says Lazkano-, at first I took too many features of Álava and he told me to remove some; it was like separating straw and grain.”

The devil speaks

The Basque batua also has its place in Errementari. Being a standard, careful and collected language, it is more suitable for some characters that appear in the film, as the dialect “does not work” with them, according to Lazkano. “The characters of the institutions and the devil needed an elaborate, theatrical language and for that the best was to unite,” added Urkijo. The apocalyptic phrases of the devil, for example, have been put together.

They studied other alternatives such as Euskañola, but they have been “satisfied” with having chosen the batua. 150 years ago there was no unified Basque, but, according to Lazkano, it is also not realistic for a representative of the Council to make Basque. It's the magic of cinema. He also stressed that the actors Ramon Agirre and Eneko Sagardoi use the Basque Batua "in a very natural way", as he explained.

The narrator, for his part, speaks in Basque in Ataun, collecting the story of Patxi Errementaria to pay tribute to Joxemiel Barandiaran. In addition, other dialects have also been used to provide additional information, according to Lazkano: “For example, the character of Gotzon Sánchez, a group of village to village trade, makes a language of Oiartzualdea, that may be enough to know that it is not village trade.”

Lazkano believes that the game created with the Basque variants “enriches” history. On the one hand the treatments (hika, zuka, berorika) have been used, on the other the records (colloquial, jasoa) and finally the dialects. “They give character to the characters, they help to dress the film.” Koldo Zuazo agrees on this: “We can’t put everyone talking the same way, it’s not real. In Errementari there are the neighbors of a small Alavese people and with them the abbot, the representative of the deputation, the devil... it is fair that everyone speaks their own way”.

Known variants

Paul Urkijo, director of the film, is clear that these kinds of features influence the character of the film, even more fantastic. “It gives it a curious texture, those of us who know Euskera quickly realize that there is something special,” the director explains. It is special, striking the Basque of Errementari, but also understandable. When it comes to recreating the Basque country in Álava, this condition has been taken into account at all times. “It hasn’t been like reviving a finger, most of the features we’ve acquired are used today in many places,” says Lazkano.

“For most Basques the variants we have used are known, sometimes it resembles the Western Basque, other times it is a curious mixture of Goierri, Burunda...”. Some of the characteristics taken from the Basque Country are: To become – at the end of the word (daughter), to remove – i from the particippo- (I have seen), to replace yourself with (she), etc.

With the conviction that the reconstruction of the entire verb would be confusing, the forms of Urdiain have been used under the advice of Koldo Zuazo. “We know a lot about the Basque country in Álava, but we don’t know all of them, and the actors, to work comfortably, need a full language,” said Zuazo. To solve it they have moved to Urdiain. “It’s in Navarre, but it’s clear that his life has been linked to Álava.”

In the opinion of Lazkano, “indirectly, the research work of linguists serves to disseminate through entertainment and to show the historical link between Álava and the Basque Country”. Zuazo has expressed his “great joy” for the words he has researched for years in film. In addition, he said that "Lazkano's work, Urkijo's attitude and the professionalism of the actors were to be welcomed".

In any case, uniting dialects and batua is not the only contribution of Errementari, nor the most significant, according to the translator Gorka Lazkano. The most remarkable thing is that a film of this level is made in Basque. “The exercise we have done with the Basque of an era in Álava can be a novelty, but as for the model we have not brought anything new, like the rest we have done what we can.” All of this, with the public present, of course: “We have always hesitated, how not to scare the Euskaldunberris and how not to bore others.”

Errementari had the possibility to shoot in Spanish or English, but it has always been clear that this film about Patxi Errementaria had to be in Basque. As a result, the offer in Euskera will be extended in the cinema billboard. Urkijo, Lazkano and Zuazo have carried out a very nice exercise, removing the possibilities offered by the languages and registers of the Basque country. “The film brings together the various colors of the Basque Country, which gives history a lot of life,” the director explains. In the opinion of Gorka Lazkano, “we must be allowed to play from time to time without complexes, and turn fiction, at least, into the free territory of the Basque Country.”