El viaje de Carol

Carol, the young girl at the center of the story, is transplanted to a foreign land, Spain, at the height of the Civil War conflict in the late 30s. For this girl, everything is new, in it's foreignness. The war and her father are her constant worries, while she has to immerse herself in a provincial culture that is years behind what she has in New York.

Imanol Uribe directs this film by the numbers. Carol's family is obviously divided, while Carol's mother is married to someone that is an air force pilot with the leftist faction, the rest of the family's sympathies are with the Franco and the fascists that won the conflict.

The story adds nothing to what has already been told, much better, but it's an easy film to watch. Northern Spain's magnificent landscape is shown. Don't expect a lot of action since most of what happens revolves around Carol and the young boys she befriends.

Clara Lago plays Carol with sincerity and innocence. Maria Barranco is Carol's mother Aurora, the one that went away to America. Rosa Maria Sarda is Maruja, the teacher who befriends Carol. Carmelo Gomez, plays Alfonso, the man that Aurora left behind when she left for America. This actor, who usually has lead roles in most Spanish films, doesn't have anything to do, as he remains an enigma throughout the movie.

Some unsuspecting films carry a message that resonates in the hours and days after viewing. Such is the case for CAROL'S JOURNEY (EL VIAJE DE CAROL), a beautifully crafted 2002 film from Spain based on the novel 'A boca de noche' by Ángel García Roldán who also adapted the book as a screenplay. War and its consequences are not new subject matter for films, but when that war theme plays in the background as a subtle driving force to develop characters (especially children) who must face adult life influenced by the games of adults, the result is a different and more tender examination of the coming of age film genre.

Carol (Clara Lago) is a 12-year-old Spanish American youngster from New York who with her critically ill mother Aurora (María Barranco) returns to her Aurora's home in 1938 at the height of the Spanish Civil War, a home that has been left deserted by her father Don Amalio (Álvaro de Luna) since his wife's death. Carol's father Robert (Ben Temple) is a fighter pilot who has sided with the Republicans against Franco and is rarely with his family. Aurora has a past: she left her lover Alfonso (Alberto Jiménez) to marry Robert, and Alfonso in turn married Aurora's cold sister Dolores (Lucina Gil). Carol is an independent girl who remains aloof to all but her grandfather Don Amalio until she meets others her age but not of her 'class': Tomiche (Juan José Ballesta) and his two friends at first resent Carol, but as events develop Carol and Tomiche are bonded by what feels like the first awakenings of love. When Aurora dies of her illness, Carol must live with Alfonso and Dolores and their daughter Blanca (Luna McGill), yet turns to her grandfather for support and to her mother's best friend and teacher Maruja (the always radiant Rosa Maria Sardà) to understand the disparity between classes and the senseless war that keeps her beloved father from her side. Through a series of incidents Carol and Tomiche learn the rigors of becoming adults, facing more traumas in a brief period of the war than most of us experience in a lifetime. The ending, though sad, is uplifting as Carol's journey to maturity is complete.

The film is shot in Galicia and Portugal and contains some extraordinarily beautiful settings captured with gentle sensitive lighting by cinematographer Gonzalo F. Berridi and enhanced by the musical score by Bingen Mendizábal. Director Imanol Uribe understands the fine line separating pathos from bathos, and in electing to concentrate the story on the children involved, he makes an even stronger statement about the futility and cruelty of war. The cast is exceptional: the stars clearly are young Clara Lago and Juan José Ballesta, but they are supported by the fine veteran actors in the adult roles. This is a visually stunning work with a lasting message and should find a much larger audience than it has to this date. Grady Harp

Another Spanish movie about the 1936 Civil War. This time we're told about the story of Carol (lovely played by débutant Clara Lago), a little girl which comes to live to a little Spanish village from New York. It is such an initiating trip, and soon she'll find about the injustices of the human race, their stupid fights and conflicts, their contradictions.

Imanol Uribe makes his best film since "Días Contados" (1994) with such a sober pulse, a beautiful photography, and a nice script. He tries not to take part in the conflict, he just shows us some facts and let us decide (ok, the facts are explicit enough to make us decide in which band are we in) and he takes a huge advantage of the presence and the freshness of the young starring couple: Clara Lago and Juan José Ballesta.

A well cared production.

My rate: 7/10

I think the film was charming and innocent. The story is very character driven, and the dialogue is salient. It brought me memories from the time when I returned to Peru at the age of 13, it was a alien country to me even though that was my place of birth. The film forced me to relive those times, with the many adventures I had reuniting with family, and making new friends. I think the director did a great job with having the story told through a child's P.O.V. (point of view), and the way "Tomiche" and "Carol" found each other was remarkably funny, and original. I do agree with others who have commented that the movie is not AMAZING, but it is a story with many merits, and the value is unquestionable.

CAROL'S JOURNEY is set against the background of the Spanish Civil War, which, for those who aren't familiar, was a civil war that occurred because rightist forces in Spain could not deal with the idea of a republican government under which proportional representation was a feature. The Spanish Republic was led by liberals or progressives who were willing to work with labor parties and socialists, and the civil war was led by "dissenters" who had a problem with the idea of Spain breaking away from its semi-feudal past.

Carol is a 12 year old girl from New York City who has returned to Spain with her mother Aurora, to live with Aurora's family and attempt to be a little closer to Carol's father, who is an aeronautic volunteer for the Republic. Within a few months of their arrival, Carol's mother dies, and Carol finds herself having to make a new life with her grandfather and her aunt, uncle and cousins. Her closest acquaintances are a group of street kids, most worthy a kid named Tomiche who knows the ins and outs of survival in wartime and whose father also is a supporter of the new Spanish republic. The storyline basically follows what occurs through preadolescent love and the months following the victory of the reaction (Franco's followers).

The film, as many others have commented here, often falls into the clichés that follow films that attempt to engage with a child's view of wartime. But for those familiar with the details of this chapter of history, CAROL'S JOURNEY resonates in a special way, and is worthy on a number of levels. Definitely worth the hour and a half it takes to breathe this one in.