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Reviews
Alma gitana (1996)
Worthwhile
Granted, this is not a first-rate movie, as one of the other reviewers suggests, but it IS worthwhile with much value for anyone interested in contemporary Spanish society and, particularly, in gitanos and the role and importance of flamenco to their community. Romantic attraction between individuals from "majority" and "minority" communities is, of course, an age-old theme, one that gains new meaning in contemporary social contexts, given migratory patterns and the current pressures of global capitalism. The challenges that Lucía faces in this movie as she seeks to reconcile her own cultural values with her attraction to a payo (non Gypsy) are authentic and well-scripted. The love story that unfolds is certainly overstated and melodramatic in many ways, but not the cultural issues that come to play. And the music and dance is, in fact, first-rate.
Salvajes (2001)
Brutally honest, but most of all duplicity
"No te enteras del mundo en que estás" ("You're not even aware of the world you live in": this line more or less sums up a movie that has to do with the many duplicitous ways in which ignorant... well-meaning?... people sustain and nourish a system that brutalizes and marginalize both citizens and immigrants. The rough, hand-held filming is interesting, as are other "brutally honest" aspect of the treatment of the theme. Other Spanish films of the same sub-genre (EL BOLA, BARRIO, SOLAS, BWANA) maybe were... more honest and perhaps a bit less saccharin. Admirable, despite the unfortunate amount of tears and tugs at the heart. This has to do of course with the play the movie is based on: José Luis Alonso de Santos' SALVAJES. One is left wondering in the end of the topic of Spain's "others" isn't woefully fetishized.
Abre los ojos (1997)
Remarkable, deep, varied.
A remarkable movie, well filmed, intriguing, deep, original. Moves between thriller, melodrama, and metaphysical musing: the possibility of Calderón's influence (La vida es sueño / Life is a Dream) is not to be underestimated. Last sequences could use some editing.