La barraca

(Contains mild spoiler) Not a very successful adaptation of a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (the man who wrote "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse", "Blood and Sand" and "Beyond All Limits") Roberto Gavaldón's "La barraca" nevertheless won all the top Ariels (Mexican national film prize) awarded to 1945 production, including best film, direction, screenplay, cinematography, actor, supporting actor, film editor, music, art direction and sound. The production is lavish, and the intentions were good, with a lot invested in special effects and casting many Spanish actors who were refugees from the Civil War, to make Mexican locales pass for Sevilla, but the results were not up to the effort, due to a weak script by filmmaker Tito Davison (a frequent collaborator of Gavaldón) and the daughter of Blasco Ibánez. The first hour or so is dedicated to illustrate all the hardships of a foreign family that arrives in town and occupies an abandoned "barraca" (a cabin) to work the land nearby, property of the family responsible for the tragedy of the first occupants. The community considers the cabin and land to be haunted, but everybody is so mean (except for an old shepherd) that it seems it is the people who are really possessed by evil spirits for all they wrong they do to the family members, including the death of the youngest child. The script is a perfect example of what a screenwriter should not do: it accumulates tragedy after tragedy, and then spends around 30 minutes of apparently happy times with folk music, dances and serenades, to return to tragedy for the last 15 minutes. It reminded me a bit of Thomas Vinterberg's "The Hunt", although "La barraca" was made 67 years before, and its characters are more rebellious and confront the mean characters. Not bad, but director Gavaldón made other much better films.

Classic and successful Mexican film with emotion, sensitive drama and family tragedy . La barraca, is a hit Mexican movie well directed by Roberto Gavalaldón , dealing with countrymen working at the Valencian Albufera and displaying a nice cast , such as : Domingo Soler as Batiste , Anita Blanch as Teresa, Amparo Morillo as Roseta , José Baviera, Luana Alcañiz as Pepeta, Manolo Fábregas as Tonet , Narciso Busquets as Batistet in the main roles . The book and film takes place in Valencia in the 19th century . It accurately describes the harsh living conditions of the peasant and agricultural population. Uncle Barret is unable to continue working the orchard that his ancestors had cultivated for generations as he cannot pay the rent to the owner of the land, D. Salvador . As a consequence, all the residents of the village, with Pepeta (Luana Alcañiz) and Pimentó (José Baviera) at the head, conspire to prevent anyone from working on that plot again. Until Batiste (Domingo Soler) and his family arrive , his wife Teresa (Anita Blanch) and their children Roseta (Amparo Morillo) , Batistet and Pasqualet, plus two little ones whose names are not mentioned who, driven by necessity, settle on the farm and agree to cultivate the abandoned farm in exchange. Two-year grace period in the payment of the corresponding lease. From that moment on, they will be indefatigably harassed by the rest of the community, who accused them of bowing to the landowner's demands, thus harming the interests of the group. The harassment reaches its climax when the young children of the Batiste family have a confrontation with other children of the village, as a result of which little Pasqualet dies . A feeling of guilt and compassion pervades the community.

Intense family drama about unfortunate and desperate people who fight for life with a tragic finale . Based on a novel by the Spanish Vicente Blasco Ibañez whose books have been adapted several times on big and small screen , such as : ¨Blood and sand¨ , ¨The temptress¨ , ¨Cañas y Barro¨ and ¨Mare Nostrum¨ , among others . The film is set in rural Spain, where new family arrives from town to work a parcel (barraca), but the townsfolk are very hostile to the idea of "another" working the land that once belonged to one of them. Decent interpretations from main starring , Domingo Soler as the rigid , proud father full of valour , Anita Blanch as his faithful and good wife , José Morcillo as teacher don Joaquin and José Baviera as the stubborn Pimentó who will stop at nothing to get his purports . This stunning rural drama was well made by Roberto Gavaldón . This is the first version of the notorious novel by Vicente Blasco Ibañez , there's another version , a Spanish TV series in nine episodes : La barraca (1979) , professionally directed by Leon Klimovsky in his own personal style with Álvaro de Luna, Marisa de Leza, Victoria Abril, Lola Herrera y Luis Suárez, , Eduardo Fajardo as Tío Barret , Fernando Hilbeck , Juan Carlos Naya and brief appearances from Eduardo Calvo, Terele Pávez , Adrián Ortega , Gabriel Llopart, Miguel Ayones, Alfredo Alba, José Riesgo , Rafael Vaquero, and José Canalejas.

Spanish cast, Spanish, setting, Spanish story. I think the film was shot in Mexico but it's barely Mexican outside of that.

But that doesn't make a film bad, surely. I never said it did.

The plot is fairly predictable B-movie type fare - a family moves into a parcel of land hoping to make a living there and the townsfolk bully the family for scant reason throughout the film - some people are just mean I guess!

Usually I would call the townsfolk a cheap melodramatic fully evil antagonist, but there are some brief respites to the hostilities, although they ramp up again in short order. Also the film explains it by hinting at a supernatural miasma of ill-will in the town. Nice try, but I still think the town's attitude, and by extension the plot, is cartoonish since their mercurial dispositions often poorly substantiated or built up.

The acting is good, if characteristic of the stilted performances one would expect from movies before the 1970s. The cinematography is relentlessly somber so that the film looks like it takes place in a foggy bog, but it matches the plot, so it's a plus.

Not an unpleasant watch, but it's not really captivating or impressive, either. I would call this a weak start to Mexico's Ariel Award for Best Picture.