Reviews

The documentary dates from the late sixties and has now been made into a DVD and retrieved from the cold limbo. It highlights the special features of the Basque people, customs, work and the ties to land and sea, as well as the Basque cultural and sociological dawn taking place at that moment, when the rural Basque tradition starts to mingle with the raw industrial reality, where immigrants that have flocked to the Basque Country cram in new urban sprawls along with natives, resulting in fresh ideas and views that have come to make up the current Basque society.

The beginning is quite striking when Basque characters of history are highlighted, such as kings from Navarre, prominent Spanish writers of Basque origin, people that have contributed to the discovery of the world or the Spanish colonization, echoing the kind of views and pretentious voice intonation typical of the No-Dos or Francoist newsreels. That way of telling and the very content conjuring up old glory and imperialistic days would have not been very appreciated today.

If we are to go by the images, religion is widely spread, the Basque being traditionally a very catholic people. However, the footage portrays a turning point in Basque history: while Basques keep attending processions, the new generations are embracing a secular view of reality, more in step with today's society. In addition, one is taken aback on seeing all those Spanish flags at the balconies on a traditional fiesta, reminding us that some decades have gone by since (can anyone picture that kind of ornamentation today?).

The narrative is told in quite a poetic manner, altogether the pace is somewhat slow. Anyway, well worth seeing it to look back on a key moment for the development of the values of the current Basque society.

A documentary about a leftist activist coming back to Chile from exile. Old harrowing memories come back to mind along with fears of finding a submissive Chile that doesn't fit in the ideals they struggled for, so triggering mixed feelings and a sensation of lost battle.

One of the moments features a visit to the place she lived in with her husband, a famous MIR leader, who was shot dead in a police raid after she got seriously wounded almost causing her to die. Amid flashbacks and footage from some decades ago, former party comrades and neighbours are interviewed, so conjuring up aspects and emotions related to exile, former leftist activism in the MIR, frustrations, ordeals, unaccomplished goals and new hopes.

The duration is rather long, but one doesn't get that impression, it captures the attention, making the vision of the film smooth.

Excellent film well worth seeing it. Three stories of different couples and families going through a crisis. The family environments portrayed depict various stages of incommunication: the story of the bricklayer features a couple of workdays where he neglects the common life with his woman and daughter to enlightening and corrective results, while on the opposite side, the couple that employs him has long lost the struggle of affection and relationship with their daughter to a desperate end.

The isolation atmosphere, loneliness, infidelity and lies pervade the whole plot of the film, where speaking out (sometimes violent) the untold and held back feelings seem to unravel the thing and let a beam of hope in.

The plot develops at a relentless pace, no moment to ease up or get bored.

I was quite a fan of the series as a child and after that it has always remained in my mind as one of those memorable cartoons that made a difference in the early 80s compared to previous animated series (Heidi, Barbapapa, Il Etait une Fois l'Homme..., most of which I love). I find that other similar Japanese cartoons of this kind released later can't match Mazinger Z, as they started to boringly repeat the same pattern.

That very thing, the novelty, may be one of the best features of Mazinger Z. Another good point is its inventiveness, with so many extravagant monsters, strange devices and bizarre characters; actually, we were eager to see each new installment to find out what kind of new fiend or evil machine was awaiting us!

This was a moving film to me. I remember having seen it in secondary school within an educational scheme for teenagers. When I saw it first in the middle of the schoolmate crowd, I didn't care much about it, but when a couple of years later I saw it alone at home, it touched me deep inside, feeling quite identified with the youngster.

It's a brilliant performance especially by River Phoenix and the rest of the cast too, playing a family who lives underground for past political activities having to change identity and move continuously in order to escape the police, but at the same time trying to lead a life as normal as possible. That interferes in Phoenix life, who feels overwhelmed with responsibility and unjustly shouldering a burden that is not his.

At the same time, he has to deal with the love for his new found girlfriend and the attachment to his family, and decide.

O lucky film! It's a film I once saw in 1993 still as a teenager in the Spanish sideline Channel La 2, although I haven't managed to see the first minutes yet. It was in the small hours that I found it on TV unexpectedly and got captivated right away by the inquisitive and somewhat bizarre main character (superbly played by Malcolm MacDowell), who in his quest of life travels into different circles of society bumping into most extravagant characters, experiencing surrealistic and often extreme situations. He finds Patricia, who appears and vanishes in the plot time and again, a part out of which Hellen Mirren squeezes the most, and a remarkable performance.

He, the same actors coming out once and again playing various roles and Alan Price's music band playing on the background with lyrics related to the matters developed make up the thread of the film.

In addition, there's a whole idea driving the plot that unravels during the film, which can keep you intrigued for days, trying to work out what the final message was actually.

An unforgettable animated series from our childhood. The very cheerful introducing song and pictures, with a fish disturbingly evolving into a lizard and on into a chimp and finally becoming a man, made us stare at it in amazement. I find the series greatly encouraged the intellectual excitement and imagination of the children in Europe of the late 70s and early 80s for the extraordinary events and stories told in the cartoons.

The plot of the stories with five-six recurring and distinctive characters quarreling with each other made the cartoons attractive to the eyes of the little ones. The weird storyteller with a long white beard and the clock that could speak rendered the pictures all the more enticing.

To sum up, it struck a chord in our generation, with its colourful, cheerful and optimistic images and tunes.