FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Winifred The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

sukerman In this film, you can see a important part of the recent history of my great country. This film is about the life in a big "cortijo" after civil war in 50-60´S, you can see the lives between rich people, like "señorito Ivan", and poor, like "Paco el Bajo", and how are the relations between this kind of people,they are near to the slavery. Besides, you can see poverty´s ravage, and the many different kind of familiar´s drama.

lgarcia-4 This film will shake you to the bottom. It is truly unusual to come across a movie where deep sociological, psychological and historical issues are dealt with so soberly. This movie shows quietly all the horror and brutality of rural (feudal) life in southern Spain during the hard years of the Franco dictatorship. This film, and the novel it is based on (by M. Delibes) pays humble homage to the history of millions who were silently oppressed by the class of rural landowners that supported Franco. Now, what performances by Juan Diego, Alfredo Landa and Paco Rabal. I really recommend it to anyone interested in realist art.

Keith F. Hatcher The last twenty five years of Spanish filmography have produced a number of titles which have indulged in sociological themes, mostly using the years of the Franco Régime as a background when not a mere scapegoat. El Sur (Victor Erice)(qv), Las Ratas (Giménez Rico)(qv), Las Bicicletas son para el Verano (Jaime Chávarri) as well as several by the now deceased Pilar Miró, come to mind. But perhaps none reach the powerful endorsement achieved in Los Santos Inocentes, carefully and predictably directed by Mario Camus. Faithfully transferred from the book by Miguel Delibes, also author of Las Ratas, as well as singularly impressive narratives such as Cinco Horas con Mario, a true tour de force in contemporary literature, and the intensely lyrical and moving El Camino, Camus inspired the principal actors - Paco Rabal, Alfredo Landa and Terele Pávez - into producing some memorable scenes.Scenes of illiterate peasants obeying their master, landowner, insensible to everything except his passion for hunting; peasants who were so hugely grateful for the handful of pennies so compassionately handed out by the rich duchess; peasants who grovelled in the filth of their mean shack and could barely write their own names. Spain: about 1962 if the registration number of the big black Mercedes is anything to go by. Spain, in the region called Extremadura, which even today is the poorest part of the country. Spain, governed by a dictator who himself was extremely uncultured. Camus, armed with the simple but sincere exposition in Delibes' novel, manages to show this plight, but without the tremendism so frequent in Spanish books or films; without any soured feelings, but dispassionately, like a surgeon operating for the five hundredth time on gall-stones. The story was there to be told and not sympathized over. Not for the pop-corn eating public, more for the discerning cinema-goer who can give what the film demands: attention to details. The incision is precise, exact, giving greater credibility to this little masterpiece.

Miguel Angel Diaz Gonzalez This is one of the best Spanish movies I have seen. For many reasons. First, the story, which is based on a great novel by the brilliant writer Miguel Delibes, can be seen from different points of view: as the characters in themselves, or as the history of the spanish society through two generations. Second, the actors do an incredible performance (Paco Rabal and Alfredo Landa are really fantastic, not to mention Juan Diego, Mary Carrillo, Terele Pávez...). Third, the scenes' directing and editing rise to the occasion. The result is a fresh, intelligent and charming film that we won't forget for a long time. Perhaps Belén Ballesteros and Juan Sachez's performances aren't worthy of the occasion, but that's the least of my worries.