Peek at Spain

The country of Spain has been the setting for some amazing pieces of cinema. These films help serve as an introduction to the atmosphere and culture of the country while in many cases also showing off the artistic work of some of its filmmakers and stars.The 1961 historical film El Cid is a romanticized dramatization of Spain’s national hero, Castilian knight Don Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, portrayed by Charlton Heston. Ramon Menendez Pidal, a Spanish scholar known for his research on both El Cid and the Spanish Middle Ages in general, served as the film’s historical adviser. The film was shot mainly in Spain, and offers some beautiful shots of the castles of Belmonte and Pescola.Spanish director Pedro Almodvar has made a number of well-respected films. His 2006 film, Volver, may appeal to unfamiliar audiences based solely on its star, Penelope Cruz. Cruz stars as Raimunda, one of two sisters who grew up in La Mancha (the starting point of Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote de La Mancha) and later moved to Madrid. The film has elements of both ghost stories and murder mysteries, and can also serve as a way to introduce audiences to what modern-day Spain is like.Speaking of Don Quixote, there have a number of adaptations of that iconic work, which is a classic of both Spanish literature, and the Western canon in general. In it, a country gentleman becomes obsessed with books of classic chivalry and decides to go out on a quest. The most recent adaptation was a 2000 3-part television event. Peter Yates directed the film, which starred John Lithgow as Don Quixote, Bob Hoskins as Sancho Panza, and Isabella Rossellini in a major role. If you prefer a more classic adaptation, see Grigori Kozintsev’s 1957 film, Rafael Gil’s 1947 adaptation, or G. W. Pabst’s 1933 Adventures of Don Quixote.Spain has also produced its share of horror movies. Guillermo del Toro’s dark ghost story The Devil’s Backbone (2001) follows the adventures of a band of boys at an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War (which del Toro later returned to in his film Pan’s Labyrinth). Del Toro also helped produce Juan Antonio Bayona’s 2007 film The Orphanage, another ghost story set at an orphanage, but located in a time closer to the present day. Nevertheless, Bayona says that his film was heavily inspired by the feel of 1970s Spanish cinema.