Sólo mía

What a disappointing movie! It tries very hard to convey a message and certain emotions but fails to do just so. It leaves me empty and frustrated at the end (thank god it ends). This film is no-doubtingly a farce comparing to many outstanding Spanish movies that actually have some depth. The leading actor's acting is acceptable but the same cannot be said about the leading actress although at some point my heart wants to go out for her.

She plays an innocent young woman who's not particularly highly educated. However, her acting constantly reminds me of the fact that I am watching a staged show instead of a poignant drama of domestic abuse in real life.

Domestic violence is perhaps more prevalent than one realizes. People caught in this situation often don't have the guts to confront reality and never leave the relationship soon enough to gain their sanity.

This film, directed by Javier Balaguer, was shown recently on cable and since it paired Sergi Lopez, perhaps Spain's best movie actor, and Paz Vega, got my attention.

The situation presented here is a study on how Joaquin, an up and coming advertising executive meets and falls in love with the lovely Angela. One can see from the beginning this relationship is doomed. Joaquin takes out all his frustrations on Angela and beats her up on many occasions until Angela walks out. The best part of the film is the surprising twist we witness at the end. We realize that justice works in mysterious ways, but it finally arrives and Angela is a winner.

Sergi Lopez is excellent as Joaquin. This actor has an intelligence that keeps amazing his fans from one film to next. Paz Vega is a beautiful, but resolute Angela. Elvira Minguez plays the pivotal role of Andrea, Angela's best friend, with conviction.

Unfortunately this film, which predates `Te doy Mis Ojos' (qv), escaped my attention, such that I have only now come to see it, billed as the fare for the great `Night of Spanish Cinema' on the state-run RTVE last Sunday. My biggest grouse is that they tend to put these films on too late, conveniently forgetting that most people have to be up and about, fit and ready to go on Monday morning. Maybe this is the reason for Monday being the lowest productivity-output day of the week, as, logically, many people succumb to the inevitable `mondayitis', for which no multinational pharmaceutical company has as yet come up with a suitable medication. Long live `mondayitis, I say, just as long as RTVE can find enough films of sufficient import to keep people up and wading through excessively long publicity breaks. However, on several occasions recently, I have found myself getting to about half-way through a film, when the second break for commercials appears, and I just switch off and retire to bed so as to be fresh and invigorated for the next morning.

`Sólo mía' is another film about gender violence in the family. It adopts a totally different attitude to the subject matter when compared with Icíar Bollaín's film which is at once more subtle in its telling. `Sólo mía' shoves the nitty-gritty between your teeth so that you can choke on it: some of the scenes are too explicit, one might argue, and are numerously frequent; in `Te doy Mis Ojos' the hard subject matter is more carefully handled.

However, Paz Vega, who starred in `Lucía y el Sexo' (qv) the same year, put in a recommendable performance as the badly beaten and tortured young mother; Sergi López as her husband plays his part well, though at times seemed to overforcefully portray his performance, thus almost beggaring belief. It should be said that his rôle was very tricky, to say the least. I feel that Luis Tosar carried off his performance in `Te doy Mis Ojos' more convincingly, with better balancing between the extremes of tensions and feelings.

The rest of the cast form a good back-up to the leading couple.

This film also points an accusing finger at the legal system, in which hypocritical legalities and aloofness does little - or nothing - to help solve this horrifying situation so evident today in so many headlines in Spain today. Something has got to be done: more than 70 women were killed in `gender violence' in Spain in 2003.

I went to Spain last week with my family for a wedding. I was suggested to buy "Te doy mis ojos" due to recommendations and critics. My dad was listening. So we went for it. While I was in another part of the store taking a look, my father came with this movie. "This is it", said my dad. I accepted to buy it because Sergi Lopez was in it. Thank god he played a very difficult character with his experience in acting. So, he did not let me down. The movie did. I will try to be brief to make my point here. Sergi played Joaquin a man who beats his beautiful wife Angela (Paz Vega). What I did not like is that the movie shows that he is the only one guilty, like her friend Andrea (Elvira Minguez) said. I mean, she was going to have a baby and she lightened a smoke. That is silly after a warning of him. The characters played both like children. The difference was that Joaquin went insane or any other adjective you wanna add. I think that some parts were not very intense, hard and the story demanded. Performances were pretty good with the best on Elvira Minguez and Alberto Jimenez (Andrea and his husband). My rating: 4.5 out of 10. Andres.

This is a decent film about domestic abuse with the final conclusion that you don't hit the ones you love. Period. There is also a fair amount of social commentary concerning the weak laws that protect abused women from their husbands, especially when a child is involved.

What is scary is that people still think that it is OK for a husband to beat his wife in this day and age. That is not love. The previous comment on this page mentioned that the film showed the husband to be completely at fault. He is. She smokes while she is pregnant. That is a terrible thing to do, but it does not warrant how he beats her, kicks her while she is on the ground, gives her black eyes and slams her head into the cupboards.

Normally I would say that this film is sad, but trite. However after seeing the post before mine, perhaps much of the world hasn't yet figured out that domestic abuse can never be justified. You don't hit the ones you love.