Cranberries
Bury The Hatchet

THE REVIEW

2000, spring. March, if I'm not mistaken, a hundred days to graduation. Silvia, Laura, Alessandra, and Emanuela drive along the seafront, cigarette in hand and a beer beside, windows down to let the brisk air tangle their hair with each acceleration. The background repeats incessantly, "It's an animal instinct, an animal instinct to me...", the four friends, drunk on beer and the joy of feeling free one morning in the midst of their unique eighteen years, sing at the top of their lungs.
They get out of the car with the door open, turn up the stereo volume, and start dancing to "Promises". Even the sea waves seem to accompany them in the euphoria of the propitiatory celebration day. Laura recorded the tape that is now blasting the speakers in Silvia's car, asking for the CD from the English teacher, transcribing the lyrics into a blue-covered quadrille notebook. That teacher is fantastic, and they know that when school ends, they will all miss him greatly. He knew how to explain Wordsworth in an almost comedic way, and loved the Cranberries. Laura has taken such a liking to him that she earned a nine and a half on the Dickens oral exam. Even Alessandra has nothing to complain about for the first time. Laura has a boyfriend, his name is Mauro. They've been together for a few months and love each other a lot, but often they have to make love in the car because the parents are home. So, Mauro plays the Cranberries and while in the small Uno, Dolores sings "I'm trying to control myself so please don't stand in my way....", the two of them discover many "first things" together. Afterwards, they stay embraced listening to "How did I let things get to me so bad, how could I let things get to me like dying in the sun...". They think they’ll be together forever. The tape is a copy of Silvia's.

Alessandra has a small crush on Andrea, who is in the class next door, but she is too shy to tell him. So, the other three tease her by singing "Desperate Andy lalalallaaaa" during break while smoking in the bathroom. She, of course, has also copied the tape. Often they all go out together and sing "Just my imagination" together. Alessandra is very in tune, and Mauro also likes to sing. Summer is approaching and even though everyone thinks those moments will last forever, that same summer that "matures" them somehow separates them. Emanuela disappears, and only after a long time will it be known that she lost her sister, who was seriously ill. Silvia, Alessandra, and Laura plan to go to university together, but when it's time to enroll, Silvia doesn’t show up and won't be traceable anymore. Laura and Mauro break up; he is too jealous, and she doesn’t want to give up the first time in her life she feels grown-up, going to study in another city. Alessandra follows Laura to the same new city, and together they strive to understand why their world turned upside down in a few months. Listening together again, like before, "You and me, it will always be, eternally".

For the last time, the real Cranberries. New, but for the last time "old". Dolores is no longer that anorexic waif with a chilling voice, she no longer sings about the injustices of war or the sufferings of the parents of a drug addict. While Dolores was wasting away, a prince on a white horse saved her and on the same horse married her. Now she is happy, there are no more "Zombie" in her mind. Together with her companions, she "buries the hatchet," she is no longer mad at the world. Dolores has changed, the Crans have changed. Alessandra, Laura, Silvia, and Mauro will soon change too, and they too will not go back. There will be time for Dolores to have two children, make another terrible album, and then "kill" the Cranberries. The group of friends will take their exams, spend another summer of smiles and bonfires, and then they will part ways and everything will pass.

Three and a half stars to the Crans, to their Irish melodies, and to the rediscovered Dolores. The whole firmament to the four friends.