| Passion for movies handed down generations La Vida Latino/Latino Life December 8, 2004 My grandmother was passionate about the movies. For 20 years, she took my two older sisters and me to more than 100 movies. We saw "Camelot" at least five times, "The Sound of Music" even more. "Bambi" once. "ET" was another movie we saw just once. Seeing it together is one more fine memory among all those movies we saw through the 1960s, 70s and 80s until she died. She instilled in me a love for the whole movie experience. Want to see a movie? The question was as exciting as the answer. Still is. The movie is the date. A good film, like some Spanish-language ones I'm going to recommend, is a shared memory. My grandmother and I talked endlessly about movies and relived the laughter and wonder as if for the first time. "The Poseidon Adventure" was another we couldn't watch again. A capsized ship where survivors had to navigate their way from the top to the bottom to be rescued? It was mind-bending, never mind the tsunami that created the disaster. We would have seen "ET" at least three more times, but my grandmother had to return home to Puerto Rico, and the days of VCRs and DVDs were still to come. Like romance, movie going is laced with anticipation. Standing in a long line to buy the tickets. Uttering the movie's title with an embarrassed smile, suddenly hearing your own voice climb the scales (how does an adult say "Shrek 2" with dignity?). It's like saying "I love you" for the first time. Handing over a complete ticket to the usher and getting a torn half back, a delicate, flimsy key to a world of wonder. My grandmother gave me the thrill of these moments. Some movies are worth watching again and again. Like gazing at a face we adore, a beloved movie always fascinates and charms. Most people develop Top 10 lists of favorites. I have four to serve up today, all subtitled and most available in local video stores. 1) Los lunes al sol (Mondays in the Sun) 2002. Directed by Fernando Len de Aranoa. Four unemployed stevedores are adrift in endless weeks of nothing to do but be out in the sun of northern Spain. But there's no fun under this sun. Unemployment tears at their self-worth. Too old to get jobs in a market where youths are preferred but young enough to still have years of work ahead of them, the movie is also an essay on pride. Starring Javier Bardem, an actor who is a joy to watch in any movie. He is magical as Santa, lumbering, romantic, earnest, frustrated and tender. Movies could have been invented just for him to appear in them. 2) Another movie from Spain is "Todo sobre mi madre," ("All About My Mother") 2001, by the country's most famous director, Pedro Almodvar, master of primary colors and outrageous story lines and actors who make it all vividly real. It is a moving and funny story about grief with two of the most magical actresses on either side of the Atlantic, Marisa Paredes (Spain) and Cecilia Roth (Argentina). Antonia San Juan (Spain) also has a memorable turn in the movie. 3) "Yoyes," 2000, written and directed by Helena Taberna, based on a true story about an ex-member of the Basque terrorist group ETA. Ana Torrent plays a regretful Yoyes who fled from Spain to Mexico to start a new life. For more than 30 years ETA has waged a violent battle for an independent state in northern Spain and southwestern France. Yoyes is a stirring snapshot of one of its members. 4) "Un lugar en el mundo" (A Place in The World) 1992 is claimed by Argentina, Spain and Uruguay, for its main cast and crew members are natives of those three countries. Directed by Adolfo Aristarin, it is the story of a family forced into exile while Argentina endured a military dictatorship. The family lives in Spain for a spell, then returns to live off the barren land as sheep farmers 12 hours from Buenos Aires, but it could be 100 light years away. That's where a good movie can take you. Light years away. Natalia Mu�oz is a staff writer for The Republican. She can be reached at nmunoz@repub. com |