Horas de luz

Being a fan of actress Emma Suarez, I went to see this film full of anticipation. The film starts off with bleak scenes of crime and punishment, sceneries of an all male world where ruthless police are at war with equally brutal criminals. Men devoid of human consideration and gentility. A world where humans are nothing less than wild beasts, and where their spirits are broken by sadistic guards. After this relentlessly grim opening, Emma Suarez's character arrives. She is the prison's doctor who is shocked by the conditions in which the inmates live. She falls in love with one of the inmates, who we suddenly come to see as noble savage rather than ruthless killer. The moments of tenderness which she is able to give through the excuse of tending to her patient, are very intense. Too soon however the movie swiftly moves on to tell the story of how she starts a campaign to stop the terrible prison conditions. Even though it is very educational, it doesn't make for good drama. The movie focuses in a corny and cheesy manner on the personal relationship between delinquent's hussy, Emma, and her bit of rough. The movie's tone changes completely and it is af if we are suddenly watching another movie. The director should not have tried to tie in 20 years of development, but simply have limited himself to the early years, rather than drag the story on, and on, until it becomes a sugary mess in which inmates, prisoner's wives, police guards and prison directors suddenly love each other to bits.

A delinquent is accused of three murders , judged and condemned several years in prison . In jail he leads lots of prison riots until he is submitted a special treatment called FIES , characterized to be kept in a total loneliness and extreme control . There, he will spent two years , but the arrival of a social assistant called Emma to heal his wounds to provide him a first contact with good human being . And then both of whom fall in love with unexpected consequences . The movie arises some questions : Can love free you from your crimes?, is the coming out good or is the coming out to avenge the torments and terrors that make a jail for men a college for the crime? .

The picture deals with a thorny subject , the right of social reintegration of a multiple killer . The main origin of this movie resulted to be the splendid series ¨Turno de Oficio¨created by Antonio Mercero , in fact it was a script of a episode of this series that subsequently adapted into a long feature film. As writer/director Matji then wrote a book about it , dealing with the authentic experiences of a convict Juan Jose Garfia at a strict gaol that it is a hell in earth , which was a kind of almanac of everything he witnessed while in prison . This script contains usual ingredients of the ¨Inmates in prison ¨ sub-genre : escapades , violence , sadism , physical abuse , freedom wishes and many other things . Main cast formed by Alberto San Juan as Juanjo and Emma Suárez as Marimar give acceptable performances . Although Emma Suarez as a prison assistant who suddenly come to see as noble savage rather than a cruel killer delivers better acting than Alberto . Support cast is pretty well such as : Vicente Romero , Andrés Lima , Aitor Merino , Mariana Cordero , Ana Wagener and special mention for Jose Angel Egido .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Manolo Matji , though it has several flaws , gaps and failures . Javier Aguirre has filmed with all of the power and realism at its command . Manolo Matji was born in 1943 in Madrid, as Manuel Matji Tuduri. He is a prolific writer and occassionally director, known for Réquiem por Granada , Río Negro , A solas contigo , La guerra de los locos (1987), El sueño del mono loco (1989) and this Horas de luz (2004) . It has several Awards and nomination such as Toulouse Cinespaña, Turia Awards , San Sebastián International Film , Goya Awards 2005 Nominee and Cinema Writers Circle Awards .

Garfia is a bloody murderer for whom the human life has any value. Natural leader, after he is caught, he leads lots of prison riots until he is keep in a total loneliness. There, he will spent two years, watching to anybody. The arrival of Emma to heal his wounds will men the first contact with human being and something (atraction, empathy) surge between them, and Emma makes his situation public and he is moved to a normal prison. Years later, they will meet again and then, love will begin, as Garfia learns how important is life. The story has a string beginning but later is quite lazy, it moves with time jumps (not told to us, you must be aware of them) and that's quite confusing. The prison part is well build, though topical, it is correct, and the beginning of the love story, quite believable, but as the relationship starts, things begin to result a little too candy, although the ending is well done. Antonio San Juan is a decent actor and makes a correct part, with his confused and dangerous character, on the other hand, Emma Suárez makes her usual part, as expressive as a marble statue. Probably a better actress could have result in a more touching movie. To sum up, the movie is not bad, is it entertaining, and, with some ups and downs, it goes decently, but the fact that Suárez is not good and some problems on developing the story makes it just watchable, nothing more.