Product Details

• Actors: Carmen Maura, Andrés Pajares, Gabino Diego, Maurizio De Razza, José Sancho
• Directors: Carlos Saura
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: Italian, Polish, Spanish
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• VHS Release Date: June 23, 1998
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302253772
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,709 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #8 in	Video > Spanish Language > Drama
  #8 in	Video > Art House & International > By Original Language > Polish
  #9 in	Video > Art House & International > European Cinema > Spain

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Novios de la muerte., January 7, 2001

By	Francisco J. Calderon "Paco Calderón" (Mexico City, Mexico) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Spanish Civil War seen as a vaudeville show for the brutal Franco troops, where the terrified performers try to save their skins and their conscience, knowing they can't have both. Carmen Maura shines (what else is new?) as the outspoken partner in a sing-and-dance couple, but Pajares clearly steals the show as her chaplinesque, panic-stricken husband.

For SCW buffs, the movie is top notch. Down-to-the-last-detail production truly re-creates wartime Spain in every aspect, from uniforms, vehicles, weapons, posters, fashions, jokes, songs and dances, to even the streets themselves, for it seems the producers had to destroy an entire Spanish village in order to shoot the film. The menacing background radio broadcasts real-life Franco speeches, war news bulletins and fascist hymns, whereas the movie score is powerful and nostalgic. A gripping, yet comic, tale about the unsung heroism of your fellow man, I personally prefer it to Benigni's much vaunted 'La Vita E Bella!'. Don't miss it!

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great film set during the Spanish Civil War, April 18, 2002

By	Ralph I. Sato (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews

The great director Carlos Saura started with an outstanding cast and authentic detailed war time sets to create this superb film about republican vaudeville entertainers who take a wrong turn during their road show and wind up in the hands of fascist troops. Expecting to be executed, they are given a chance to entertain the fascists and obtain freedom by a stage struck Italian officer. But a chance encounter with Polish international brigade prisoners of war creates an emotional conflict for Carmen Maura. She must go through with an act that she finds distasteful and dreads the possibility that the POWs will be in the audience. The details of wartime Spain are excellent and the supporting cast is outstanding. The title of the film is taken from a charming Civil War song which also happens to be the name of the act, Carmela y Paulino. Saura has created a film that is both light and charming but with an underlying seriousness about this great tragic period of Spanish history.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Burguesía y resistencia., December 20, 2000

By	Sinforozo "Sabrosón" (P.R.) - See all my reviews

En esta historia, enmarcada en la Guerra Civil Espaņola, donde los Franquistas dominaban las manifestaciones artísticas no del agrado de ellos, encontraron la censura y el rechazo, manifiesto en la osbstrucción y el abuso. La resistencia que apenas se podia sostener, enfrentaba el fusilamiento o la desaparición imprevista. Carmela representa esa resistencia. Es la voz del pueblo que no se resigna a abandonar lo que cree y lo que vive, su arte, como expresión sublime del ser humano. Esta película es una de las mejores muestras de la lucha sostenida entre las clases dominantes de la burgesía y los trabajadores del arte.