An splendid film full of emotion , drama , social habits and feeling of sorrow . Concerning the post-Spanish Civil war and regarding the Cafe La Delicia, based on the novel of the same title from Camilo Jose Cela, "La Colmena" , it results to be a downbeat and sad retelling about some hard years . Through a microcosm made up of a multitude of characters whose axis is the cafe La Delicia where most of them meet to forget about hunger and cold , a crude vision of the winter of 1942 in Madrid is given, at the beginning of the hard postwar, the years of hunger, restrictions and ration cards. With the stories of many people in the Madrid of 1942, just the postwar of the spanish civil war, as the main theme of the moviep is the contrast between the poor poets, surviving close to misery under the Franco's regime.
This is an engaging depiction of a misfit group of roles in Spain , post-Spanish Civil War and whose existence gets very hard for them due to poorness , starvation and difficult economic conditions . It's a thought-provoking drama about suffering , sadness , sacrifice and feeling with interesting character studio on a varied assortment of individuals . It's a brilliant and touching film with some sordid elements , though slow-moving at times and tiring, but being developed with intelligence and sensibility enough . There is a contrast between the upper and lower classes , between the winners of the war, the emerging class of the people that makes easy money with illegal business and the helpless, unfortunate citizens. To close his almost thirty as a screenwriter and producer at the head of ¨Agata Films¨ production, the producer/writer Jose Luis Dibildos plans to move away from his traditional comedies and adapts the best novel by Camilo Jose Cela . Based on his script and after several delays, caused by the change of director , it ends up being effectively directed by the great specialist and novels adapter Mario Camus. Thanks to a strong and well structured script , tight production and an extensive cast of leading figures , including Camilo José Cela himself , it wins the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival . Main cast is frankly fabulous : Jose Sacristán , Victoria Abril , Concha Velasco , Emilio Gutiérrez Caba , Ana Belén , Francisco Rabal , all of them are really awesome . Being well accompanied by a good support cast with a lot of familiar faces , such as : Mario Pardo, Luis Ciges , Fiorella Faltoyano, José Sazatornil, José Luis López Vázquez, Mary Carrillo, José Bódalo, Charo López , Marta Fernández Muro , Queta Claver , Elvira Quintillá , Francisco Algora , Imanol Arias , Maria Luisa Ponte , Agustín González , Rafael Alonso, Antonio Resines, Manuel Zarzo, José Vivó, Luis Barbero, among others.
It displays atmospheric and evocative cinematography by Hans Burmann and appropriate musical score by Antón Garcia Abril . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Mario Camus following his particular style . Camus was born in Santander , Cantabria , location in which often shoots his films . He worked with Carlos Saura in several screenplays during the early 60s Los Golfos (1960), Llanto Por Un Bandido (1964)), and also directed some shorts . His first feature films were Los Farsantes (1963) and Young Sánchez (1964), a movie about boxing which won the Best Film Award at the Buenos Aires Festival . Mario has an important career with film and television adaptations quite remarkable , as he efficiently directed yarns based on notorious writers such as Perez Galdos, García Lorca, Cela Camilo José Miguel Delibes . During various decades he touched styles varying from romantic comedies and musicals to splendid adaptations from famous novels, as is the case of the prestigious TV series "Fortunata y Jacinta" (1979) . In 1983 he was given the 'Medalla Oro De Las Bellas Artes' (Arts Gold Medal), and one year later he prepared his most successful work both with public and critic : Los Santos Inocentes (1984), an adaptation from the novel by Miguel Delibes. Mario is an expert on interesting dramas as proved in ¨The days of the past ¨,¨The house of Bernarda Alba¨ , ¨La Colmena¨ which won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival , Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 1983 Winner CEC Award Best Film Best Actor Rafael Alonso , Best Supporting Actor , Luis Barbero, Best Supporting Actress Mary Carrillo
Best Director , Mario Camus , Best Screenplay , José Luis Dibildos ,and many others . Rating : 7/10 , Above average ; it's a decent film though sometimes sad and downbeat .
