Since 'Los Amantes del Círculo Polar' (1998), Julio Medem has been in my good books. This is one of his earlier masterpiece and I think this is one of the most powerful European movie in the 1990s, but very underrated, maybe because the Basque region (where the film sets) is not very popular nowadays. But if you watch this film, you will realize that those people are just like us with human feelings (fear, love, courage) and you will tolerate them. The only thing to do is to look into their eyes and you will understand that these people have been suffer and fight for freedom for centuries. Julio Medem is the most sophisticated and most sensitive contemporary Spanish director and in lot of aspects his works are much better than Almodóvar's and Saura's films because his style is cleared-out. This film is only 91 minutes long but it covers the story of two rival families from 1875 till 1936 so the story is very tense. But in my opinion if someone knows what he wants to say, he can say it in short and says the entity. Medem says the entity. The scenes of the woodsmen contest is one of the most thrilling and exciting scene what I've ever seen. The cinematography and the music are also superb it's full of surprising cinematographical solutions, like in the 'Los Amantes...'.
Check this film, you won't be disappointed and you will find a real treasure and become a fan of Julio Medem. 100%
