World War I (1914-1918). In a provincial environment of neutral Spain, two different groups face and be involved in embarrassing episodes because each one defends a different faction : Germanofilos and Francofilos . As the family headed by Don Aristides : José Isbert whose son : Agustin Gonzalez , wishes marry Laura Valenzuela daughter of Don Amalio : Félix Fernández who's Town Hall secretary , this opposite situation even causes the rupture of a courtship. This is an attractive and enjoyable story of Javier, a simple man in love with Aurora, but then thing go wrong . At the same time, a series of characters following the events of the Great War.
This charming film is a continuous satire on the nonsense of war and misunderstanding among people . The film actually adapts the novel by Fernando Flórez , with the same title and published in the 1930s. Actually, Iberina symbolizes the ideological thoughts and debates that arose throughout the Iberian Peninsula at the outbreak of the First World War. Spain, which became a neutral country , one of the few sensible decisions taken by our leaders in international politics in the 20th century, was divided in two, something that the film takes advantage of to show this division as a prelude to the two "Españas" that would emerge years later with the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). On the one hand , the film shows the strong confrontation between two groups : the pro-Germans and the pro-French , as there's a number of disputes , discussion and quarrels among them . On the other hand, Julio Diamante's film , who wrote as well, demonstrates accurately other aspects that were common during the First World War, such as the inclusion of women in the world of work . In the film we can see how the conservatives do not see favorably that women can work in public or the food speculation that took place in Spain during the war , as the businessmen sold the product to an exhausted Europe, while the price in Spain suffered inevitably, particularly in basic supplies . Stars the always excellent Agustin Gonzalez in one of his few roles as starring, in fact he was an illustrous secondary who developed a long career throughout forty years. Co-stars Laura Valenzuela who married producer Jose Luis Dibildos of Agata Films. Along with the great Jose Isbert in another of his unforgettable roles. They are very well accompanied by a large number of familiar secondaries giving adequate and typical interpretations, such as : Julia Caba Alba, Felix Fernandez, Juanjo Menendez, Gracita Morales, Erasmo Pascual, Angel Alvarez, Sergio Mendizabal, Santiago Rivero, Emilio Fornet, Luis Marin, Francisco Merino, and Maria Luisa Ponte who married Agustin Gonzales.
The fillm is decent enough , as a careful staging, an acceptable direction and a solvent script does the rest. The motion picture was professionally written and directed by Julio Diamante . He was a craftsman who directed Documentary : La memoria rebelde , Velázquez y lo velazqueño , Shorts : La lágrima del diablo , TV Series as Los libros (2 episodes : Martín Fierro , El obispo lepros) and various movies in uneven success, such as : La Carmen , Sex o no sex, Helena y Fernanda , Tiempos de Chicago , El arte de vivir , Tiempo de amor , Organillo and Los que no fuimos a la guerra.
