El niño es nuestro

Attractive and sensitive coming-of-age story dealing with a young romance with unexpected consequences. The former entry ¨Adiós cigueña adios¨ dealing with Arturo, who has just turned 15, is in love with 13-year-old Paloma and she gets pregnant . Problems emerge for everyone involved , as they attempt to help the young couple get married, conceal the pregnancy from their somewhat inattentive parents, and prepare for the birth. In this sequel, we have the seme , protagonists; unbeknownst to her parents and with the help of a group of friends, 14-year-old Paloma Martin (María Isabel Álvarez) has a child with 16-year-old Arturo Sanchez (Francisco Villa). When the baby falls ill, they have no choice but to take him to the doctor and both their families find out, but the father does not consent to their marriage and she is sent to a boarding school for nuns. Furthermore, the baby ends up in an orphanage for children. So the group of children devise a plan to rescue the child from the orphanage. The teenage couple and their friends have to fight so that society does not take their baby away from them because they are minors.

After the success of the previous film, Spanish ¨Cult movie¨, ¨Adiós cigueña adiós¨, Summers writes and directs the predictable sequel with the same group of children that becomes another hit. Filmed with the same roughness but with a lot of sympathy, it is more interesting because it has lost the moralizing tone of the previous one, leaving the children without resorting to their own interests and showing the selfishness of the parents and giving rise to an implausible ending, in which the questions of what the future will be like are not resolved.

Nice children movie with plenty of humor , romance , light drama , social habits and concerning about complex issues as pregnancy and childbirth . This is not the typical comedy by that time , here there is a brief social denounce about the the selfishness of parents, repression, social gossip, the consideration of illegitimacy of children born out of wedlock and excessive religion during Franco dictatorship . The film has a certain religious tone , children to study at Religious schools , ordinary presence of priests and nuns, among others . This enjoyable flick is crammed with comedy , jokes and good feeling . Here there is especially comedy , humor , satire and social customs . And the likeable children are well played, but dubbed by professionals. The film also includes a final part that plays with elements of intrigue and action, when the conspired children have to manage to recover the baby that remains in the orphanage, before it is given up for adoption to some prospective parents; it is true, however, that this tone of isuspense results in a sequence that is too long, stretching the tension until it becomes rather heavy, the worst thing that can happen to this type of film. Also the protagonism of the children in these scenes of suspense inevitably makes them somewhat weak, as they are too sweet: and we know that nothing bad can happen to the children, beyond the corresponding family quarrel, if they were to be discovered.

It belongs to a Spanish period called ¨New Spanish cinema¨ of the 60s and early 70s directed by students of the ¨Official Academy of Cine¨ or Escuela Oficial De Cinematografia . These films contained good stories that were beset by difficulties with the censors caused by a relentless critical to Catholic religion , sour urban or rural conventionality and extreme religious practices . It has an interesting as well as funny script by Manuel Summers himself and the prestigious Tono , based on their own childhood experiences , as there appears their Madrid houses , school , streets , personal games and Tebeos or comic books . This film packs an atmospheric and evocative cinematography by the best Spanish cameraman : José Luis Alcaine who photographed splendidlly Madrid. And atmospheric musical score and full of ordinary sounds of the sixties and seventies by Antonio Pérez Olea , adding traditional music , popular songs and modern music .

The motion picture was well produced by Antonio Cuevas and compellingly directed by Manuel Summers who shot approx. 12 films about enamored teens . As it was successfully premiered , ¨"Adios cigüeña adiós" got awesome critics and had big hit at the Spanish box office as Spain as South America . It won several awards in Festivals , as Circle of cinematographic writers National Syndicate of Spectacle, Spain 1971 : Winner Special Award Best Film . Being followed by an inferior sequel : ¨El niño es nuestro¨ with similar artistic and technician team . Manuel was a comic books humorist who publicized in ¨Pueblo¨ diary and on magazines as ¨Hermano Lobo¨and ¨La Codorniz¨. He was a comedian actor and an acceptable filmmaker . He realized a lot of films including social critical which tended not to be very well received by the censor . Summers made an important diptych : ¨Del Rosa Al Amarillo¨ (63) , "From Pink to Yellow" with Pedro Diaz Del Corral , Cristina Galbo , as Manuel created two episodes about love stories between teenagers and elderly people and ¨La Niña De Luto¨ starred by Alfredo Landa and Maria José Alfonso (1964) . El niño es nuestro(1973) rating. 6.5/10.