Page 64 - Back Roads of Iberia: Spanish Paradores & Portuguese Pousadas
P. 64
?SP /T^N]PP_ .SL]X ZQ _SP -Z`]RPZT^TP (1972, Classic) A surreal/absurdist classic, this Academy
,bL]O bTYYTYR ʭWX MPRTY^ bT_S QZ`] Q]TPYO^ bSZ L]]TaP L_ _SPT] SZ^_^ɪ SZXP ZYWd _Z OT^NZaP]
they have all arrived on the wrong night. It’s is a disquieting, yet often very funny, discourse
on frustrated appetites, real and imagined. Two things not on the menu: a neat plot line and
clear meanings.
?SP >[T]T_ ZQ _SP -PPSTaP (1973, Drama) In a small Castilian village in 1940—just after Spain’s
devastating civil war—six-year-old Ana sees a traveling movie show of Frankenstein and
becomes haunted by her memory of it.
;LYɪ^ 7LMd]TY_S (2006, Fantasy) Following Spain’s bloody civil war, young Ofelia enters a world
ZQ `YTXLRTYLMWP N]`PW_d bSPY ^SP XZaP^ TY bT_S SP] YPb ^_P[QL_SP] L M]`_LW XTWT_L]d ZʯNP]
,]XPO ZYWd bT_S SP] TXLRTYL_TZY :QPWTL OT^NZaP]^ L WLMd]TY_S LYO L QL`Y bSZ ZʬP]^ SP] L
path to saving herself and her mother. The lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur, and
before Ofelia can turn back, she’s at the center of a ferocious battle between good and evil.
BPWNZXP 8] 8L]^SLWW (1953, Drama) News reaches a small Spanish village that “the Americans
are coming” to implement the Marshall plan. Anticipating that the American might spend
money on the town, they transform it into a folksy Andalusian village with guitar strummers
and false building facades to please the visitors—but the results aren’t as expected.
Cria Cuervos $"! .WL^^TN ?ST^ ʭWX T^ L [Z]_]LT_ ZQ _SP WPRLNd ZQ QL^NT^X LYO T_^ PʬPN_^ ZY L
middle-class family. The disturbed eight-year-old Ana lives in Madrid with her two sisters
and mourns the death of her mother, whom she conjures as a ghost. Shifting between fantasy
and reality, it evokes the complex feelings of childhood as well as the struggles of a nation
emerging from the shadows.
Portugal
7T^MZY >ZYR (1933, Classic) The story of a young Portuguese student in Lisbon living a
casual, bohemian life on the family dime while half-heartedly working toward a degree.
Complications arise when his relaxed lifestyle goes bad and his supporters discover that he
wasn’t as studious as he led them to believe.
,YTVT -»M» (1942, Classic) From what looks like a simple story about children (the title is from
L NSTWO]PYɪ^ ]SdXP LYO _SPT] WTaP^ WL]RP] LO`W_ _SPXP^ ɧ R`TW_ ^TY OP^T]P LYO UPLWZ`^d ɧ RP_
played out. Filmed in and around Oporto, the cast is nearly all local children.
Fado, História d’uma Cantadeira (1948, Music/Classic) Loosely based on the life of singing
[ZbP]SZ`^P ,XLWTL =ZO]TR`P^ _SP ʭWX [WLd^ Z`_ LRLTY^_ _SP _LaP]Y^ X`^TN LYO WTQP^_dWP^ ZQ
Portugal’s passionate artistic society. Rodrigues was a successful singer/actress who brought
QLOZ L _]LOT_TZYLW ^_dWP ZQ ;Z]_`R`P^P MLWWLO _Z L bTOP] L`OTPYNP LYO _SP ʭWX ^SZbNL^P^
several instances of her powerful singing.
64