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Filming for The
Official Story
began in 1983, the year that the
military dictatorship ended in
Argentina. After the actors and
director received threats, it was
announced that production had
ceased. However, filming
continued in secrecy
until 1985, the year in
which it was released.  
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Spanish
Language Films
BROWSE SPANISH FILMS: Contemporary Spanish films: ALPHABETICAL
INDEX - 1 -
2 - 3 - 4
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releases | Spanish-language film collections
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actresses | Books about Spanish
language cinema
The Official Story / La historia oficial |
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Drama (1985)
Argentina
1985 Oscar for Best Foreign
Language Film
Director: Luis Puenzo
Starring: Héctor Alterio, Norma Aleandro |
Review: This is
one of those rare political films that transcend politics with
a stirring emotional story. Argentinean first-time director Luis
Puenzo tells the story of a strong-willed teacher who tries to
learn the true identity of her adopted daughter's father, coming
to suspect that he was a political prisoner. Her political awakening
is actually an emotional one as well because of her detached persona.
Ironically, even though she is a teacher, she doesn't connect
with people very well, thinking of history in the most abstract
terms. But she learns the painful truth of present-day life. Tautly
directed by Puenzo, The
Official Story was a 1985 Oscar-winner for Best Foreign
Film, with a riveting performance by Norma Aleandro.
Review by Bill Desowitz
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Vampires in Havana / ¡Vampiros en la Habana! |
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Animation / Comedy (1985)
Cuba / Spain
Director: Juan Padrón
Starring: Manuel Marín, Frank González |
Review: The third
feature by Cuban director Juan Padrón, Vampires
in Havana (1985) is a silly, raunchy spoof of horror and
gangster films. Wolfgang Amadeus von Dracula, the nephew of the
famous count, invents a formula that allows vampires to endure
sunlight--which he tests on his nephew Joseph "Pepe"
Emmanuel. It works so well that Pepe is completely unaware of
his true nature; he plays jazz trumpet in a nightclub and joins
a cell plotting to overthrow a repressive general. Pepe soon finds
himself dodging the general's inept henchmen and rival vampire
syndicates who want the valuable formula. Drawn in a simple, cartoony
style that suggests a cross between the work of Zagrebfilm and
the Mad Magazine cartoons of Sergio Aragones, Vampires
in Havana offers American audiences a rare glimpse of
the work of one of Cuba's leading animators. Unrated; suitable
for ages 16 and up: Nudity, sexual humor, profanity, violence,
ethnic stereotypes.
Review by Charles Solomon
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Nobody Listened / Nadie eschuchaba |
|
Documentary (1985)
USA
Directors: Néstor Almendros, Jorge Ulla
|
Description: Fidel
Castro is undoubtedly one of the most controversial figures of
the last 100 years. From the era of Eisenhower to that of George
W. Bush, Castro has ruled Cuba and maintained extraordinary world
attention. Nobody
Listened reveals Castro’s brutal methods for sustaining
his longevity, and forces us to listen closely to accounts rarely
taken seriously before. Former Castro comrades, life-long Communist
party leaders, writers, and intellectuals – as well as unrepentant
supporters of fallen dictator Fulgencio Batista – appear
and testify in gripping detail about the seedy underbelly of Cuba's
police state. Nobody
Listened is a burning polemic with style to spare. Co-directed
by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Néstor Almendros
(Days
of Heaven, The
Last Metro), Nobody
Listened whirls about and makes its points with style,
verve, and wit. It is a story no one can afford to miss. This
first-ever DVD release includes a special update, created specifically
for this edition by co-director Jorge Ulla.
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Camila |
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Drama / History (1984)
Argentina / Spain
Director: María Luisa Bemberg
Starring: Susú Pecoraro, Imanol Arias |
Synopsis: In 1840's
Buenos Aires, Argentina, a beautiful young socialite named Camila
falls in love with Ladislao, a Jesuit priest. After several failed
attempts at fighting his own feelings, he ultimately succumbs
to her. The two later escape to a far off, secluded village where
they assume new identities as husband and wife and begin running
a children's school. After several months of relative happiness,
the couple's true identity is discovered by a local priest. Under
moralistic pressure from both Camila's family and the Catholic
church the authorities apprehend the lovers and imprison them
for sacrilege.
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What Have I Done to Deserve This? / Qué
he hecho yo para merecer esto!! |
|
Comedy (1984)
Spain
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Carmen Maura, Luis Hostalot, Ryo Hiruma |
Review: Pedro Almodóvar
scored his first international hit with What
Have I Done to Deserve This?, cementing his reputation
as Spain's bad-boy director of darkly comedic melodramas. Many
of the themes that dominate Almodóvar's later films are
evident here, especially his sympathetic affection for downtrodden
women like Gloria (Carmen Maura), an exhausted housewife who is
addicted to No-Doz and spends 18-hour days cleaning apartments
and tending (just barely) to her teenage sons (one deals drugs,
the other offers sex to local perverts), neglectful husband, and
looney-tunes mother-in-law--all of whom have a particular knack
for getting on her nerves. Toss in a prostitute neighbor, an accidental
murder, and a pet lizard named "Money," and you've got
the makings of a soap opera by way of Luis Buñuel and John
Waters, served up with Almodóvar's distinctive blend of
compassionate humanity and kinky outrageousness.
Review by Jeff Shannon
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Alucarda / Alucarda, la hija de las tinieblas |
|
Horror / Thriller (1978)
Mexico
Director: Juan López Moctezuma
Starring: Claudio Brook, David Silva, Tina Romero |
Description: Directed
in Mexico in 1975 by Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo) and
collaborator Juan López Moctezuma, Alucarda
is a gruesome occult film that tells the tale of the strange relationship
between two young girls, Justine and Alucarda, who happen to be
witches. The film documents how their relationship destroys the
lives of those around them in a torrent of blood, death, and damnation.
This legendary horror film - which was thought lost until a negative
of the movie was discovered -- contains images that will shock
and disturb.
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|
Chac: The Rain God / Chac: Dios de la lluvia |
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Drama (1975)
Mexico / Panama
Director: Rolando Klein
Starring: Pablo Canche Balam, Alonzo Mendez Ton |
Description: A
cult film from the 1970s, lost for years and now newly restored,
Chac:
The Rain God is based on ritual and legends from the Popul
Vuh. This gorgeous film, shot in the Chiapas region of Mexico
by Chilean director Rolando Klein, focuses on a small Tzeltal
village during a terrible drought. Desperate for relief, thirteen
men set out on a quest to save their people from starvation with
a Diviner who takes them far from their own land on a strange
journey. Chac
is magical, mystical and intensely visual. A dazzling portrait
of a Native American spiritual quest, Chac
is a visionary masterpiece as powerful and revolutionary as Walkabout,
El
Topo and Aguirre:
The Wrath of God.
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|
Spirit of the Beehive / El espíritu de la colmena |
|
Drama (1973)
Spain
Director: Víctor Erice
Starring: Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera |
Description: Made
under the Franco regime, Victor Erice’s astonishing 1973
feature debut is quite simply one of the most remarkable, influential
and purely poignant films to emerge from the 1970s. A bona fide
classic of European cinema, the film brought Erice instant and
widespread acclaim. An audacious critique of the disastrous legacy
of the Spanish Civil War, The
Spirit of the Beehive is set in a rural 1940s Spanish
village haunted by betrayal and regret. Following a travelling
cinema’s screening of James Whale’s Frankenstein,
seven year old Ana (a mesmerizing Ana Torrent, later to grow into
an international star of some standing) becomes fascinated with
Boris Karloff’s monster. Obsessed with meeting the initially
gentle creation, she transfers her entracement to a wounded army
deserter.
Atmospherically rendered by legendary Director of Photography
Luis Cuadrado, it’s impeccably performed by both Torrent
and veteran actor Fernando Fernan Gomez in the role of her emotionally
scarred, bee-keeping father. Existing in a highly evocative dreamlike
state, it’s a powerfully symbolic, richly allegorical tale
that is as unique as it is beautiful.
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Kaliman / Kalimán, el hombre increíble |
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Action / Fantasy / Science Fiction
(1972)
Mexico
Director: Alberto Mariscal
Starring: Jeff Cooper, Nino Del Arco, Susana Dosamantes |
Description: Upon
his arrival in Rio De Janeiro to attend a convention on parapsychology,
The Incredible Kaliman and his inseparable assistant Solin become
involved in a chilling adventure in the treacherous Brazilian
Amazon jungle. The merciless Humanon has created a fantastic laboratory
where he performs the most macabre genetic transformation. Kaliman
must use his telepathic ability and physical dexterity to rescue
the beautiful Guarina and a group of scientists before they are
mutilated by Humanon.
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