The North: 30 Days in the Scottish Highlands

The North: 30 Days in the Scottish Highlands

The North follows two friends as they embark on a month-long hiking challenge through the Scottish Highlands in hopes of reconnecting. Bart Harder plays Chris, a Dutchman, and Carles Pulido plays Lluis, Chris's best friend and former roommate, who is now Spanish.

They have spent roughly a decade living on opposite sides of the world when they decide to repeat a journey they once took together, walking the West Highland Way and Cape Wrath Trail. This combined journey spans roughly 350 miles and takes them through some of the most remote and beautiful areas of Scotland.

Writer and director Bart Schrijver released his feature-length debut with The North, which first screened in Europe, and will be released in selected U.S. theaters on October 9, 2026.

Reuniting After a Decade

At the start of The North, Chris and Lluis aren't the best of friends like they once were.

In the years they've been apart, their lives have taken different paths and their friendship has withered.

In a way, the journey they are embarking on becomes a test to see if they can reignite the connection they once had.

Along the journey, things begin to get difficult and strain their friendship even more.

Chris starts to get distracted and thinks about work back home, and Lluis starts to get determined to finish the entire trail.

The film is a dramatic journey, depicting two people walking 350 miles along two of Scotland's most famous trails: The West Highland Way and the Cape Wrath Trail.

The West Highland Way offers about 96 miles of some of the most impressive and recognized scenery in Scotland. The Cape Wrath Trail offers a much more remote and difficult challenge, combining with the West Highland Way to form an estimated 330 to 350 mile trek.

This challenges and tests both men, both mentally and physically.

The terrain, weather and conditions cause difficulties for the two characters throughout the journey, and relentlessly test their patience.

The film is not a traditional survival story, and doesn't provide a wealth of information on how to deal with the outdoors. Instead of focusing on how to survive the elements, it focuses on the silence of the environment. With no modern conveniences, distractions and comforts, and given enough time, people are forced to face questions they've avoided or ignored.

One of the most unique elements of this film is that it was filmed on the routes its characters walk. In order to capture an unscripted sense of chaos and a reluctance to control its environment, the production followed the characters and walked the routes itself, capturing it chronologically. This made the sets and environments real, and literally became part of the production. It also provided an opportunity to integrate real, remote locations and rural campsites of Scotland into the story.

The change of season becomes a valued ally in the journey, and the passage of time carries significant weight.

As the characters progress north, the audience sees their journey approximately in the same geographical order in which it was shot.

Bart Harder and Carles Pulido take the lead in the movie.

Bart Harder plays Chris, and Carles Pulido plays Lluis.

Rather than surrounding them with a large cast, the film keeps its attention on their friendship. Olly Bassi is also credited with the cast, but the emotional center of the story remains the relationship between the two hikers.

Gradually their opposing attitudes become more noticeable.

Lluis sees completing the walk as something he needs to prove to himself. Chris doesn't seem as clear on the goal of the walk and remains mentally connected to things in the rest of his life.

Creating this mental distance creates the underlying tension.

For those finding this movie through movierulzfilm, the main conflict is an emotional one. Two best friends, who parted ways years earlier, must now face the past to see if there is a chance for healing their present.

Bart Schrijver writes and directs The North.

The U.S. official listings put the run time of the movie at approximately 138 minutes. European listings place it at 130-132 minutes.

The long run time allows the film to take a slower pace.

Instead of rushing through the key events of the story, Schrijver allows for segments of walking and conversing and includes scenes of other travelers.

It gives Chris and Lluis the space to think about their friendship, growing up, and how much they've changed since the journey as teenagers.

For audiences discovering the title through searches involving movierulzfilm, the main conflict is therefore emotional rather than action-driven: two former best friends must decide whether revisiting their past can genuinely repair their present relationship.

The North Opens in the U.S. on October 9

The limited U.S. release of The North, by Picturehouse, begins on October 9, 2026. On October 5 there will be a one-night sneak preview in select locations.

The movie had earlier been released in the UK and Irish cinemas in 2026 and also been through the festival and other select screenings.

The simple plot line of the movie is: two men and one long walk, and a friendship that has been neglected for a decade.

The North focuses on the smaller and more emotional changes that people can go through in a decade.

The two men take the walk hoping to find a memory they once shared, but in placing them in the Highlands for 30 days, the movie asks, can taking a journey back in time to the place where an old relationship was healthy, actually help restore that relationship? Can you move on and find a way to be at peace with the relationship, if both don't accept how much they have changed?