danon

"I have never watched a movie in preparation of going to any country. "

.Me neither.

IMDonehere

A thousand years ago when I was in high school, they made us see a Spanish (or French) movie during the Christmas and Easter breaks at a regular theater. Chaos ensued.

kimhe

Still in the Basque country, Loreak (Flowers) is powerful: http://www.loreakfilm.com/en/

The Basque Country is witches country, here is The witches of Zugarramurdi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witching_%26_Bitching
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGC21t8QsU0

And I second the recommendation for Almodóvar's brilliant Volver (return/coming back). On a deeper level it has to do with the return of the Civil War and the dictatorship in Spain with the opening of more than 2000 mass graves all around the country since 2001 and how this has forced many Spaniards to return back to a past they hoped they had left behind after the so called "pact of forgetting" in the wake of the dictator Franco's death in 1975.. https://www.theguardian.com/commenti.../comment.spain

Everyone interested in Spain should read The Guardian's Madrid correspondent for many years Giles Tremlett's "Ghosts of Spain": http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/bo...an.t.html?_r=0

barefootbeach

Love all the back and forth!

barefootbeach

ribeirasacra....just watched your short u-tube movie....ha ha! very clever!

barefootbeach

Also...just finished Secrets of the Heart...another wonderful Spanish movie. Perhaps these aren't representative of the true Spain..but then, how can one movie be? I just love hearing the language...watching the interpersonal relationships...seeing the beautiful actors portraying the drama of everyday life. It helps create the expectation and excitement of about to be spending time in another country so different, yet so similar, to my own...the universal human condition. Why wouldn't you want to watch a movie set in a country you're about to visit?

IMDonehere

Last visit to the Reina Sofia they were showing this curious film that was a collaboration between Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí.


http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/gr...n-andalou-1928

Leely2

A classic Spanish film that I had been completely unaware of until a few years ago--not Basque, though--Spirit of the Beehive.

I happened to catch this on cable and was mesmerized.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/gr...e-beehive-1973

ribeirasacra

barefootbeach on Aug 29, 16

**ribeirasacra....just watched your short u-tube movie....ha ha! very clever!***

That is what we have to deal with when it comes to paperwork when living here. Everywhere has its downsides ;-)

kimhe

Little Ana in "Spirit of the Beehive" was the great Ana Torrent's first role: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0868479/

Torrent also played in the best film about the Basque Country ever "Vacas", and she had the lead role in Yoyes (1999) about the woman who was killed in 1986 by the Basque separatist terror organisation ETA for leaving the group: https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...pain.terrorism

And you have of course Guillermo del Toro's parallell worlds tale for grown ups "Pan's labyrinth" about the little girl, the faun, Franco regime terror and republican rebels in Navarra five years after the Civil War. Must admit that I've seen this some ten times ;-)

"Critics Consensus: Pan's Labyrinth is Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups, with the horrors of both reality and fantasy blended together into an extraordinary, spellbinding fable." https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pans_labyrinth/

And Del Toro himself has indicated similarities between Pan's labyrinth and The Spirit of the Beehive.

barefootbeach

Yay! Netflix has Spirit of the Beehive so I can watch that next!

lobo_mau

"Biutiful" (not a typo) - director Alejandro González Iñárritu (2010)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1164999/
"This is the story of Uxbal...)

"Broken embraces" - director Pedro Almodovar (2009)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0913425/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_4

"Tie me up! Tie me down!" - director Pedro Almodovar (1989)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101026/

Revulgo

The hilarious (for a Spaniard) and surrealist "Amanece, que no es poco" (It begins to get light, not a small thing)
http://www.spainisculture.com/en/pel...o_es_poco.html

barefootbeach

Revulgo,....sounds like a bizarre premise for a story....but then, is this Spain? Wish I could see this!

kimhe

And twilight is a very Spanish topic, here José Mercé singing Al Alba (at dawn) about the time of day the Franco regime prisoners were taken out to be shot and, eventually, the light of day after Franco and his regime died. No es poco!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRadQwNsq_Q

Ackislander

I like Carlos Saura's flamenco versions of "Carmen" and "Bodas de Sangre" a lot, though they are unlikely to be very helpful in any immediate way.

kimhe

All Sauras flamenco films are brilliant. Here is his latest "Flamenco, flamenco", a poetic state of the art movie from 2010. Here you can see the best flamenco artists in the world in full action, Miguel Poveda, Sara Baras, Estrella Morente, Diego El Cigala, David Peña Dorantes, Israel Galván, Rocío Molina etc. etc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj4qz9V9unk

But Saura has a long career doing other kinds of films since 1955, (three Academy Award nominations) and his most famous is Cría Cuervos (Raise Ravens) from 1976. Also with Ana Torrent, and it won the Jury Prize in Cannes in 1976.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr%C3%ADa_Cuervos