Last month saw the release of the film Alacrán enamorado, the story of promising boxer Julián and his group of heavily-tattooed, neo-nazi friends, who spend their days in the ring and their nights beating up immigrants and members of ethnic minorities. Despite some strong performances, instead of tackling the complexity of the subject full on, this adaptation of Carlos Bardem's third novel is ultimately a superficial story of love and triumph against the odds. All of which is a shame, as Alacrán enamorado raises some potentially interesting questions regarding race relations in Spain. Figures published by the Spanish Institute for National Statistics reveal that immigration has risen … [Read more...] about Spain still wrestles with immigration
About Olwen Mears
The apocalypse comes to Barcelona
The main idea behind Los últimos días, the latest offering from directing/screenwriting brothers David and Àlex Pastor, is far from original. The basic plot - a mysterious and deadly epidemic that creates mass panic and, ultimately, complete social chaos - shares more than a passing likeness with M. Night Shyamalan's 2008 movie The Happening, as well as I am Legend and Danny Boyle's brilliant 2002 release, 28 Days Later. Despite clear parallels with its predecessors, however, Los últimos días is no less worthy in its depiction of all-out human catastrophe. Indeed, it goes one step further, attempting a social critique similar to Blindness, the 2008 movie based on José Saramago's novel of … [Read more...] about The apocalypse comes to Barcelona
Spanish education reforms…in the wrong direction
Two of the children in my twice-weekly lunchtime English class return at 6pm on the same days for their French lessons. As well as additional language tuition, most of the pupils who attend the academy engage in an array of extra-curricular activities that include music theory, football, handball and even catechism. All on top of a school day that is essentially 9-5. Amid the recession, English academies are mushrooming all over Spain, many of them doing booming business. I know of at least two cases of friends opening academies only to have to turn people away for lack of space and/or staff. There are several reasons why Spanish parents may think their children need extra schooling. … [Read more...] about Spanish education reforms…in the wrong direction
Jesús Eguiguren: the last negotiator
One film conspicuous by its absence at this year's San Sebastián festival was Ángel Amigo's 80-minute documentary, Memorias de un conspirador (or ‘Memoirs of a Conspirator’), about incumbent Basque Socialist Party President Jesús Eguiguren. In the film, due for release this autumn, the leader of the Basque Socialist Party (PSE) offers a personal perspective on his more than 30-year career in politics, in particular his dealings with ETA. It was talks instigated “off the record” by Eguiguren and former Batasuna spokesman, Arnaldo Otegi in 2002 that eventually paved the way for the 2006 negotiations between ETA and Zapatero's government. Memorias director Amigo was nonchalant about the … [Read more...] about Jesús Eguiguren: the last negotiator
San Sebastián Film Festival: Happy Hoffman and a hold-up
The 60th San Sebastián Film Festival drew to a close on Saturday evening, with triumphs for French film Dans La Maison, which took the Golden Shell, Blancanieves, The Dead Man and Being Happy, Foxfire and Fernando Trueba, for El artist y la modelo. Macarena Garcia and Katie Coseni shared the Silver Shell for Best Actress, for Blancanieves and Foxfire while the Zinemaldia jury awarded the Best Actor prize to José Sacristán for his performance in The Dead Man and Being Happy. A Special Jury Prize was also awarded to Blancanieves. A second 60th anniversary Donostia Prize (following on from Oliver Stone’s) was also awarded to Dustin Hoffmann, who presented his directorial debut The … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: Happy Hoffman and a hold-up
San Sebastián Film Festival: disaster and art
Watch any film at the San Sebastian Film Festival and you can feel like you're taking your life in your hands – two hours of it, anyway. The event, which prides itself on being a champion of the avant-garde, is a notorious game of chance when it comes to buying tickets. So it is a bit surprising when you see a film that delivers exactly what it promises. The Impossible (‘Lo imposible’), a US-Spanish production directed by Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage) is the story of one family's struggle for survival following the devastating tsunami that hit their hotel resort in Thailand on Boxing Day 2004. It is based on the true-life story of Spaniards Quique Álvarez and María Belón … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: disaster and art
San Sebastián Film Festival: understanding war and ethnic division
The first 40 minutes of Venuto al mondo (Twice Born), competing in this year's Official Section of the Zinemaldia festival, are, frankly, laughably bad. As well as a corny script and stereotyped characters, the action and events completely lack credibility. Directed by Italian Sergio Castellitto, the film stars Penélope Cruz as Italian beauty Gemma who is swept off her feet by Emile Hirsch's Diego, an American photographer and free spirit. The character of Diego is so full of energy and utter rapture about everything that he is incapable of entering a room without tripping up with excitement over the wallpaper. He and la bella Gemma are first introduced by their mutual, stereotypically … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: understanding war and ethnic division
San Sebastián Film Festival: death and happiness
El muerto y ser feliz (‘The Dead Man and Being Happy’) was the name of the Spanish-Argentinian production showing on Sunday as part of this year's Official Section at the San Sebastián Film Festival. It’s a bizarre title with two apparently conflicting ideas; a clue in itself to understanding a film which, in director Javier Rebollo's words, is not contradictory but “paradoxical”. José Sacristán plays paid assassin Santos, who is (fittingly, perhaps,) dying. When he skips hospital and sets out on a road trip with money from his last – failed – hit job and a box of morphine, the viewer joins him on a 6,000-kilometre road trip across Argentina – and, says the director, a “nature … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: death and happiness
San Sebastián Film Festival: Snow White hits Andalusia
Not long after movie audiences made the pleasing discovery, thanks to last year's The Artist, that silent films can still be enjoyable, Pablo Berger's Blancanieves, competing in this year's Official Section, provides yet another silent revelation. The story of Snow White set in early 20th century Andalusia actually works. Berger's Blancanieves is Carmencita (played by Sofía Oria and Macarena García), born in Seville during the Belle Époque, a rose-tinted era of Spain's past that lends itself perfectly to silent cinema. Snow White's father is a handsome and celebrated bullfighter, her mother a famous flamenco dancer who dies in childbirth after seeing her husband gored and left paralysed … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: Snow White hits Andalusia
San Sebastián Film Festival: Gere finds sinister charm in ‘Arbitrage’
The San Sebastian Film Festival got off to a cracking start on Friday with US film Arbitrage, starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and Tim Roth and directed by Nicholas Jarecki. Opening the event’s 60th edition, Jarecki's film is competing in this year's Official Section. Arbitrage is a tense thriller, set against a corporate backdrop, with a tight script and an energetic pace that is largely down to script writer and debutant director Jarecki. Gere plays Robert Miller, a business magnate who is ready to sell up, supposedly to spend more time with his family. At first he looks as if he has it all: a loving wife (an excellent if little-seen Sarandon), a devoted son and a brilliant … [Read more...] about San Sebastián Film Festival: Gere finds sinister charm in ‘Arbitrage’