‘Maybe you can be a hero just by taking someone for a walk.’
Meet the guerrilla filmmakers who’ve turned a walk in the Lake District into a vital message about mental health.
RAMBLER MAN IS all of 13 minutes long and virtually wordless. But it has a lot to say.
It’s about a father and son taking a walk in the Lake District (specifically, from Honister Pass up to Fleetwith Pike). But the walk is intercut with flashbacks which reveal where this walk came from and why it’s so important for both. The younger man is grappling with mental health difficulties; his dad is desperate to help but can’t work out how to reach him. It’s only when dad stumbles across a joyful fragment from his son’s childhood – a longlost memory from a walk – that he finds a way.
To tell more would be to spoil the warmth and beauty of this little film, but suffice to say, the message is positive. And it’s one that the team behind the film are very passionate about.
“What we want to say is that heroism doesn’t have to be dramatic,” says writer Ewan Pollitt, who also stars as the son.
“You can save a life in everyday ways. Maybe even just by taking someone for a walk.”
Ewan is Lake District born and bred, having grown up in Cockermouth. But in 2020’s lockdown he was stranded in London, and found himself writing the film script as a means of going for the walks he wasn’t able to take.
“I’ve had mental health problems myself, and walking has always been a big part of working through them,” says Ewan.
“Obviously lockdown was a big challenge to everybody’s mental health, including mine. So when I couldn’t just go for a walk in the fells, and was stuck in the city away from friends and family, I found myself writing about doing it instead. It was how I worked through it, really.”
Ewan’s script found its way to actor Angus Imrie, who plays Josh Archer in Radio 4’s iconic drama The Archers. Angus persuaded Ewan to let him direct the film, and for good measure he recruited his Archers co-star Tim Bentinck (who plays his dad, David Archer) to play the father.
Along with a small crew, the trio headed to the Lakes and shot the whole film in two days. Two rather damp and soggy days, as it turned out.
“In the script it was a beautiful sunny day, but you get what you’re given, as anyone who goes walking in the Lakes will know,” says Ewan.
The conditions demanded guerrilla filmmaking, according to Angus. The crew had to snatch shots in amongst the raindrops, and with the cloudbase at a few hundred feet, they abandoned the idea of going for a high summit and instead assembled a small
summit cairn made of leftover slate slivers from the famed Honister quarries.
“The great thing is, the weather creates a wonderful atmosphere given what’s happening in the story,” says Angus.
“I’m not sure a beautiful sunny day would have suited it so well. I feel really delighted with the look and the mood of it, just as it is.”
Rambler Man is now complete, with a gorgeous score by Vivian Youel to accompany the atmospheric visuals. The team are busy putting it forward for film festivals across the UK (including the Kendal Mountain Festival) and as far afield as New York, Palm Springs and Galway. They hope to make the film available online later in the spring.
And to take the film’s message forward, the team (including co-producers Augusta Woods of Track Films and Cat White of Kusini Productions) have donated part of their crowdfunding to two Cumbrian mental health charities. One is Carlisle and Eden MIND; the other is Mind Over Mountains, which offers group walks in the fells led by trained counsellors. “It felt important to give something back to the community, especially in terms of mental health,” says Ewan.
Angus says it would be lovely if Rambler Man won some praise on the festival circuit, but that the experience of making the film has been a treasure in itself – and the message is the most important thing. “It’s all about simple steps,” he adds.
“The walk doesn’t solve the problems these two characters are facing, but it’s the breakthrough which lets them start to find a way to get through it.
“It just suggests that a walk could be the start, and that might be enough.”
For more about the film, including the trailer and news of release dates and screenings, visit ramblermanfilm.com. And to find out more about the work of Mind Over Mountains, visit mindovermountains.org.uk