La piel quemada

This movie is from 1967, but it could be done nowadays.

Yes, it is a film whose universal theme does not go out of fashion; the facts we see in it are occurring now in several places around the world. The film could be presented perfectly to any current independent film festival (and win) both for the subject matter and the aesthetics used in it.

José emigrates from their land, the Andalusian countryside, constrained by the lack of work, to Catalonia (Lloret de Mar), where the new international tourism has begun to leave traces in the territory as massive constructions of touristic apartments. Its aim is to get job and accommodation there to bring his wife Juana and their children to live with him. We assist to her long trip to the unknown land and, at the same time, to the new life experiences he has in this new world.

Aesthetically it's almost considered a neorealist film, but I can't avoid to see the imprint of the European contemporary cinema born with the nouvelle-vague. This mixture of styles, in a truly glorious 67's black and white, also contributes to making this a timeless movie.

The issue of internal migration in Spain also had a very good treatment in the best known "Surcos" (1951) ("Furrows" - international English name), with which it is sometimes compared to. It is very different, actually. The 1951 film is realistic stylistically, and narratively belongs to the time it was shot (there is no forgiveness for those who have done wrong, for example). "Burnt Skin" features several conflicts that happen as in life, without dramatic continuity, without a moral message.

Although the film is known and it's often included in lists of the best Spanish cinema, and has been featured too in film retrospectives outside Spain, I still think that this is a pearl that has not been appreciated enough as it deserves in Cinema, both in Spain or abroad. Being a movie about to turn 50, it should be more widely known.