Los santos inocentes (1984)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Mario Camus

Writers:

Mario Camus (writer)
Miguel Delibes (novel)

Release Date:

4 April 1984 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Spain, 1960's. People from a very poor family work in the country, at the service of a rich family of landowners...

Plot Keywords:

Actual Animal Killed | Beautiful Woman | Social | Based On Novel

Awards:

6 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Alfredo Landa	...	Paco, El Bajo
Terele Pávez	...	Régula
Belén Ballesteros	...	Nieves
Juan Sachez	...	Quirce
Susana Sánchez	...	La Niña Chica
Francisco Rabal	...	Azarías
Ágata Lys	...	Doña Pura
Agustín González	...	Don Pedro
Juan Diego	...	Señorito Iván
Mary Carrillo	...	Señora Marquesa
José Guardiola	...	Señorito de la Jara
Manuel Zarzo	...	Don Manuel, el doctor
Francisco Torres
José Salvador
José Manuel Sito

Also Known As:

The Holy Innocents

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Black and White | Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Alburquerque, Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain

Company:

Ganesh Producciones Cinematográficas

Trivia:

Voted eighth best Spanish film by professionals and critics in 1996 Spanish cinema centenary.

Camus' story of peasants

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.