Al sur de Granada

This beautiful film is based upon a memoir of Gerald Brenan who was a member of England's Bloomsbury Group. It is the story of a randy young man who completely immerses himself in the lives and culture of a small Spanish town shortly after WWI. Brenan, throughout his long life, was an adventurer and traveler who seemed to have had the enviable ability to absorb and learn from all of his varied experiences.

The movie begins with Brenan trooping through the Spanish countryside to reach a small town where he has obtained a house. His greeting from the locals cannot be considered warm but still not hostile. His intent is to read, write, and absorb the culture of this town that is somewhat of a throwback to the previous century - not something really unusual considering this is rural Spain in the 1920's. As time passes, he becomes more of a member of the community but is still seen as a curious oddity by many of the residents.

Brenan's fascination and admiration of the people and their culture was clearly evident. He and his writings became admired by the Spanish people and recognized by the Spanish government.

This film is particularly enjoyable because it is evocative of the unique period in Europe between the wars when so many artists shed the constraining straitjacket of Victorianism for an enlightened, erotic freedom of expression. Matthew Goode who plays Brenan is perfect as a young man freed from the oppression of war and the oppression of society to explore all the educational and erotic pleasures available. He is supported by an excellent cast of Spanish actors - the men portraying character and strength, the women exemplifying emotion and dark, sensuous passion.

I may be a bit prejudiced in my liking for this film. If I could pick another time and place to live my life, I would choose that time between the wars in Europe, so I tend to lap up any book or film depicting that period. Even if you are not as enamored as I am of that time, I think you will find Al sur de Granada worthwhile entertainment.

I have to say that finally I see a Fernando Colomo's movie that I like. "Al sur de Granada" is beautifully filmed, has a nice pace and contains superb acting. The recreation of beginning of the century Alpujarras is convincing, the characters credible and the plot engaging.

This time I've seen a bad film, the history is not interesting, it is really boring. In addition, actors don't do any good play, they all seem too much uncomfortable with their papers and the directing is not good. Despite that, the description of a southern Spanish town of the 30's is not bad, and it saves the film to receive a worse mark. Theorically the story is about a English man that wants to be a writer and goes to Granada to have inspiration, there, he crashes with the strange town behavior which he is not used to. Of course, he finally falls in love and all these things. Unfortunately this is not a Meg Ryan's film so the story is not well told to us, nor the crash of cultures (and nothing). Personally, I've seen much better films, so, unless you like the director I should recommend not to see this film (if you like the director, you can, but I think that this is his worst work).

Having myself lived in an Andalusian pueblo for the better part of a year (albeit in 2004) I found myself amused by some of the similarities between my own "modern" experiences and those of Geraldo in this light-hearted romantic comedy -- particularly the dumb-struck way in which he initially blunders about in a world that is in many ways completely alien to him. Also quite familiar was the tightness of the community, the openness, the love of the art of conversation, the desire (as embodied in the character of Paco) to find any reason to throw a party, and of course, the wonderful, passionate Flamenco.

The village characters, less than fully fleshed-out individuals but more than stereotypes, are in some ways archetypes of the times. Much of Andalusia was impoverished in that time period (another familiarity to me, having grown up in a small, poor rural town in the US) -- and yes, as in all such places, there are the machinations for dominance in the village, the matrimonial plotting of the town matriarchs, and even the mystique embodied, however clumsily, by the gangly English foreigner Geraldo, who has arrived looking only inspiration, but finds himself rather lost and quickly swept away by the engines of fate.

Far from being a "serious" film, this comedy depicts well the clash of Geraldo's naive artistic intentions with what life in this poor Andalusian town, to which he is so completely new, actually provides him. The film serves as a metaphor of more modern times in Andalusia as well, with so many Britons and other northerners having relocated to the Spanish Mediterranean -- bringing with them the two-edged sword of wealth and development, which has lifted much of Andalusia out of poverty in recent decades, but subverted a good deal of passionate tradition as well. Little pueblos evolve into bedroom communities for British, Dutch and German retirees and wealthy vacationers, and new golf resorts spring up like weeds. The transformation of Andalusiua, depicted in a simplistic way in the film, continues.

This movie is the cinematographic transposition of a beautiful autobiographic work: British writer (and historian) Gerald Brenan wrote a very sincere piece about his six years in the Alpujarras and everything shown in the picture is true, including people's names or the birth of his Spanish daughter Miranda Helen.

The film, which is very nice, focuses on Brenan's story and doesn't show a great deal of the Alpujarras, which is a pity.

Educated readers however could draw an interesting comparison between the present title and 'Tortilla Flat' or its sequels. Both Steinbeck's and Brenan's works (which are contemporary) describe Anglo/American people living in a Spanish/Mexican environment but besides what these stories have in common, Steinbeck's ones are fictional while Brenan's is real.

And someone could actually dislike how the Englishman behave: I personally think he was too young. Being older and more experienced, maybe he would have made other choices.