In Minha Amiga Palma, the audience sees the moving story of a dog called Palma, abandoned in an airport
A dog sees everything change when she is abandoned by her owner at an airport. She then develops a friendship with Nicholas, a nine-year-old boy who lost his mother and lives with his father, a pilot who was moved by the animal.
This is the synopsis of the film Minha Amiga Palma. Released in 2021, the film was shown on TV Globo this Monday, the 29th. However, what many may not know is that the production is inspired by a touching true story, which you can see below!
The true story of the dog takes place in 1974 at Vnukovo airport, located in Moscow, Russia, explains the site Russia Beyond. On that occasion, one of the passengers who would board an Ilyushin IL-18 plane bound for Norilsk encountered obstacles with his dog, which did not have a vaccination certificate. Therefore, he could not board alongside the owner.
The passenger then took the leash off the animal, which started running on the airport runway. What, for the dog, seemed like a moment of fun soon turned out to be a nightmare: she was abandoned by her owner. Thus, the airport became her home for two years.
False hope
Living there, the dog started chasing Ilyushin IL-18 planes. After all, your guardian could disembark in one of them. The story inspired pilots and airport employees, who began to care for the poor animal.
The name ‘Palma’, in fact, carries a curious story. When trying to guess the animal’s name, they tried different options. The dog, however, started responding to ‘Alma’, which became ‘Palma’.
Scene from the film ‘My Friend Palma’ – Disclosure
The Palma saga unfolded when Vyacheslav Valentey, a pilot, decided to take the story to the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. Intrigued by what he received, journalist Yuri Rost decided to take a closer look.
“Strictly speaking, the fact that the dog ran around the airfield was a violation of all safety rules, but Palma behaved carefully and, moreover, the airfield staff protected her. Only after a while did it become clear why the dog was waiting for “Ila”. His owner flew on that plane and never came back”, explained Rost me old interview.
When the story was published in the newspaper, the story caused a widespread stir with the headline “Two Years of Waiting”. The article even tried to find Palma’s former owner. According to Rost, the person responsible for abandoning the dog wrote to the vehicle.
“He flew to work in the North, problems piled up, he got confused and [a] he forgot. You know how this happens in life. First – one thing, then – another. Again, everyone is different. I don’t exclude that the owner wouldn’t even remember the dog if it weren’t for the publication in the newspaper,” he explained.
New family
While the former owner showed no interest in looking for Palma, the search for a family began. The person chosen to change the dog’s sad fate was a teacher named Vera Kotlyarevskaya, who lived in Kiev.
Image from the film ‘My Friend Palma’ – Disclosure
However, it wasn’t that simple. That’s because Palma, traumatized, wouldn’t let people get close. After taking a month off work, Vera started visiting the dog daily, gradually winning her over.
Vera reported, according to Russia Beyond, that Palma was not aggressive or panicked when taken to her home. However, she tried to escape at one opportunity. She only started to feel at home after six months. So, she accepted her new owner and regained her joy.