La balsa de piedra

2002
1h 43m

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Icíar Bollaín, Gabino Diego, Diogo Infante, Federico Luppi, and Ana Padrão in La balsa de piedra (2002)

An inexplicable crack in the Pyrenees Mountains provokes excitement and scientific curiosity. As the geological fracture deepens and widens, the European community begins to disassociate its... Read allAn inexplicable crack in the Pyrenees Mountains provokes excitement and scientific curiosity. As the geological fracture deepens and widens, the European community begins to disassociate itself from the calamity, and panic ensues among tourists and residents attempting to escape.... Read allAn inexplicable crack in the Pyrenees Mountains provokes excitement and scientific curiosity. As the geological fracture deepens and widens, the European community begins to disassociate itself from the calamity, and panic ensues among tourists and residents attempting to escape. When Spain and Portugal physically separate from the continent, the detached Iberian peni... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

668

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 wins & 5 nominations

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Trivia
Once the film was completed, a special screening was organized for Noble Prize winner José Saramago, whose book the film was based on. Fearing the celebrated writer's judgment, director George Sluizer hid himself on a chair in the back row of the cinema. Once the film was over, Saramago called Sluizer to come forward, to give him a hug and thank him kindly for his great achievement. With tears in his eyes, the staunch leftist Saramago told Sluizer he had been afraid the film would have become a commercial Hollywood film, which turned out to be incorrect.

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Featured review

1/10

Awfully Stupid

The anecdote of Saramago's novel may be novel in his hands, but that is because of his prose, his talent or his Nobel status. The adaptation origin of this movie is terrible. First is full of technical errors, continuity to start. Second problem is the dialogue. Every time Luppi speaks is to mouth a sentence. For a moment it seems Sluizer has a problem understanding Spanish, specially since all the actors lines are spoken in a stiff robotic manner. The mass chaos images are the saddest note. When the crowd is supposedly driven by panic, to catch a few extras laughing doesn't help the trick. The contrived plot is the last item This one I suffered until the end: the peninsula as a middle step between America and Europe may sound good in a high-school essay, but as the chore of the plot is a very poor excuse. I expected more from the director of The Vanishing (I should have remembered that he directed Crimetime too).