By Eric Rosenberg
Story
It’s 1936, and shy 7-year-old Moncho (Manuel Lozano) feels painfully out
of place in his Galician village until a kindly schoolteacher (Fernando
Fernán Gómez) takes him under his wing, inspiring in the youngster a
love for nature and poetry. But the exciting New World that opens up
before Moncho’s eyes is soon threatened by the dark tide of fascism
rising around him.
Acting
Perfect casting, from the awkwardly adorable Lozano to renowned Spanish
national treasure Fernán Gomez, does much of the work for the
filmmakers. Uxía Blanco and Gonzalo Uriarte also make strong impressions
as Moncho’s parents, whose divided loyalties (hers to the Church, his to
the Republic) are played subtly at first but become increasingly evident
as the political atmosphere intensifies. In the end, though, it’s Fernán
Gómez’s youthful energy and quiet dignity that give the film its soul.
Direction
Director-producer José Luis Cuerda creates a magical world in which
fable-like episodes such as a romantic interlude between Moncho’s older
brother and a mute Chinese woman seem perfectly believable, then
seamlessly makes the difficult transition to the more serious tone of
the last section. At times he loses his grip on the loose-jointed
narrative, but all that is forgotten when he gets to the brutally honest
finish, a masterfully set-up sequence as unexpected as it is inevitable.