I am not a movie critic but I think it is important to study the war via several different avenues. SO on a somewhat regular basis I will provide reviews of movies, documentaries, and books about the war. This means I will also need to go back to watch those I already did. This may be a challenge since I only have Netflix and Amazon by which to do so. There will be spoilers, so please watch the film is you don’t want to get a spoiler.
My first review is for the 2002 Spanish film Carol’s Journey (El viaje de Carol) directed by Imanol Uribe. The movie stars Clara Lago as the protagonist Carol, Juan José Ballesta as Tomiche Carol’s “love” interest, Álvaro de Luna as Don Amalio, as Carol’s grandfather, and María Barranco as Aurora Carol’s mother. The movie is set in 1938 and I have been unable to figure out where the movie takes place but it is not near the fighting.
In a nutshell Carol is a Spanish-American, her mother is Spanish and her father American, we later find out that her father is a pilot with the Spanish Republican Air Force. Her mother and her move from New York to Spain-at first I thought to myself-you are going the wrong way but it later becomes known that her mother is dying and she wanted to came home to die and her American father is with the Republicans.
Her immediate family was wealthy, liberal and progressive and escaped Madrid to their hometown to ride out the war. Though not all of her family had the same ideas. Two of the main Francoistas are related to her. Remember when I said the countryside was more conservative? Yep, that was the case in the film. There were local Falangist Blue Shirts running wild so to speak.
On to the plot, Carol and her mother live with her mother’s father, a gentle man, who seems distant from his granddaughter. Following the death of Carol’s mother she goes to live with her Aunt. While living with her grandfather she runs into a group of local teenage boys who pester her but one boy in particular, Tomiche, goes a little to far and she racks him. Which apparently is how kids in Spain in the way back start romances. Carol falls for Tomiche a poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks.
Early one morning Carol and the boys are out catching finches to sell when the Blue Shirts prepare to round up local “leftists” who are seen latter piled in a truck and driven off and taken “on a Walk”. Tomiche’s father was taken “on a walk” when the war started-Tomiche explains to Carol what “on a walk” means. One of the other two boys later tell Carol that Tomiche’s father was taken “on a walk” and shot by the local Franco supporters, the shots triggering Tomiche.
An interesting postal history part of the movie was the Portuguese smuggler who would mail letters to the Republican zone for 15 Pesetas. One day, a Republican plan drops a package in the center of town. This is when we learn that Carol’s father is a Republican flier. Inside of the box is a toy Republican plane. After this we see her give the smuggler money to mail a letter to her father.
The war ends and the local Francoistas celebrate and Tomiche’s uncle is a policeman and beats the crap out of him. Carol’s father sneaks in to town by dressing as a Nationalist soldier. He hides in his grandfather’s home then flees to the forest. Carol and Tomiche go to look for him, as does the Falangists. Tomiche locates her date in the river but is accidentally killed when the pursuers fire at him and Carol’s father. Her father carries the dead Tomiche and is captured by the Falangist.
The movie ends with Carol being sent back to New York to live with her paternal grandparents. Grandfather Don Amalio says to Carol that her father being American will not be held very long. That is how it ends. I am doing this from memory o the time line may be a little off. But you get the gist.
I really enjoyed the film-it was beautifully shot-I does give you a sense of the tensions of the conflict, the story I thought was engaging and the acting solid. It wasn’t overly preachy which I appreciate as so many of these movies become over the top in their messaging. I think this was a 5 out of 5 for me. Really worth watching again-it had a Giuseppe Tornatore feel to it.
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