La mitad del cielo

La Mitad del Cielo (Half of Heaven) is a fantastic film that will give the viewer a wonderful sense of Spanish history, culture, and the natural beauty of Spain.

Set immediately following the Spanish Civil War, a young woman is forced to move from her home in the north to Madrid, where she gets a job as a wet nurse. Over time she rises in society and comes to have her own restaurant (this is a great food film with a fun food fight). Part of what makes it special is a mystical connection between the woman's daughter and mother, both of whom can see the future, a power which seems to skip generations.

See it!

A great film that challenges the identification of women with the domestic sphere. The protagonist's somber struggle involves breaking into the world of Franco's male dominated 70's - not directly after the Spanish Civil War-that was in the 30's. A touch of the surreal but the darker, more reserved Spanish style, not the colorful magical realism of Latin America.

Nicely cradled in José Luis Alcaine's tender and mood-setting photography, combining so tastefully with music mostly by Milladoiro, modern-day Galician troubadours, `La Mitad del Cielo' (one of Mao Tsé Tung's snippets, maybe?) is an enchanting if sometimes slightly long-winded story set in the beautiful valley of Pas, Santander, and in Madrid, between the late fifties and the early part of the sixties.

Angela Molina carries out an acceptable performance, mostly enhanced by Alcaine's clever use of light and camera-work so as to bring out her haunting look so frequently in this film. Ably backed up by some actors who were to become well-known a little later, such as Santiago Ramos (Como un Relámpago, qv), she survives fairly well. But both Margarita Lozano and Fernán Gómez tower above her with really fine performances. Personally I prefer to listen to her father Antonio Molina who was a great singer of fine Spanish songs, and who, like other singers of the times, appeared in numerous films of doubtful parentage in the 50s and 60s.

A leisurely approach is adopted in the telling of the story as Rosa grows up in the beautiful valley, marries a travelling knife-sharpener, and later gets employed as a wet-nurse in Madrid. Sociological and political aspects of the times form a back-cloth without being obtrusive but to useful effect. However I do feel that a goodly part of the last 15-20 minutes or so were unnecessary. Indeed I have noted a 90 minute version of this film, which would seem to suggest somebody has cut out some of the superfluous scenes, which, generally, would be dead against my principles with almost any film.

However, do not misunderstand me: I would see this film again as it has many sensitive scenes skillfully handled.

Slightly above seven out of ten on my scale.

This movie has "haunted" me since I saw it five or six years ago, and I keep trying to find a place where I could rent it again. The scenery is awesome -- green and fertile. The story captures the little-known Celtic side (i.e., magical side) of the folks from northern Spain. It is a slice-of-life quite unlike my own life -- and makes you think. See it at least once.

There's a sly magic at work in this fascinating Spanish feature: not the high-tech sleight-of-hand conjured up by the FX wizards, but the more natural magic found in the unseen order of chance and circumstance. On a superficial level the film traces 13 years in the life of a peasant girl from rural Spain (Angela Molina), seeking her fortune in the big city as the owner of a fashionable restaurant patronized by the rich and powerful. But just below the surface of the story is a deceptively (super) natural subtext, showing the invisible ties binding Molina, for better or worse, to the other generations of women in her family, in particular to her earthy, cigar-chomping abuela, who extends her unseen influence from beyond the grave through Molina's demure, otherworldly young daughter. The title of the film is borrowed from an old proverb which says "women are half of heaven", and the almost mystical (and for Molina, sometimes inconvenient) rapport between daughter and grandmother is revealed in a sometimes witty, sometimes haunting web of timely but not entirely random accidents, adding up to an unusual film of rare depth and beauty.