The adage goes that you shouldn’t work with children and animals, yet Franco García Becerra puts both at the centre of his gentle drama that pits a traditional way of life against the industrial jaws of modernity. The story of an endearing young boy and his adorable alpaca is instantly charming, but exiles its central conflict so far into the background that it never gains any dramatic momentum. What’s left feels like a character study of a boy who is still too young for his personality to have fully developed.

Eight-year-old Feliciano (Alberth Merma) is an alpaca herder in the gorgeous but frigid region of Rumicancha. A cheery, but slightly loney kid, his friend group has been decimated by many of the local families selling their herds and leaving in the face of a rapacious mining company. His two friends best friends are his dog Rambo and pet alpaca Ronaldo, to whom he shares his love of football and his hopes that Peru will make it to the World Cup in Russia in 2018. During a stand-off between the mining company and the remaining community, both animals go missing, sending Feliciano off on a frantic search.

This synopsis makes Through Rocks and Clouds sound more dramatic than it actually is. For the most part, Becerra is content to keep the narrative fairly ambient, relying on the natural beauty of the landscape and the sweet bond between Feliciano and the incredibly expressive Ronaldo. This undeniable charm coasts the film through its first act. But because we’re so firmly locked into Feliciano’s viewpoint, the anxieties faced by his parents feature too rarely, even when two bikers slash the throats of many of the community’s alpacas while they’re all watching the Peru match.

Compared with a film that has a very similar narrative and theme; Elle Márjá Eira‘s Stolen, which sees a Sami girl’s life as a reindeer herder in jeopardy, the Through Rocks and Clouds simply lacks drive and energy. It’s a film with its own issues, but a lack of narrative thrust isn’t one of them. There are glimpses of interesting insights and a hint of magic realism. A fantasy sequence in which Feliciano plays football with his now-departed friends, and a mythical land spirit called Auki Tayta offer tantalising depths, but otherwise Becerra is overly content for the Feliciano and Ronaldo show dominate.

Screened as part of Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival