Horas de luz (2004)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Manolo Matji

Writers:

José Ángel Esteban (writer)
Carlos López (writer)

Release Date:

24 September 2004 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Can love free you from your crimes?

Plot Keywords:

Rehabilitation | Handcuffs | Jail | Physical Abuse | Male Nudity

Awards:

2 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Alberto San Juan	...	Juan José Garfia
Emma Suárez	...	Marimar
José Ángel Egido	...	Chincheta
Vicente Romero	...	Morata
Andrés Lima	...	Granizo
Ana Wagener	...	Chus
Aitor Merino	...	Tormo
Daniel Núñez	...	Chester
Alicia Cifredo	...	Chini
Paco Marín	...	Rafa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Cristina Camisón
Mariana Cordero
Tomás del Estal
Enrique Escudero
Andreas Muñoz
Jesús Noguero
Carles Sales

Also Known As:

Hours of Light (USA) (festival title)

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Aranjuez, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Sogecine

Promising beginning which doesn't deliver in the end

Being a fan of actress Emma Suarez, I went to see this film full of anticipation. The film starts off with bleak scenes of crime and punishment, sceneries of an all male world where ruthless police are at war with equally brutal criminals. Men devoid of human consideration and gentility. A world where humans are nothing less than wild beasts, and where their spirits are broken by sadistic guards. After this relentlessly grim opening, Emma Suarez's character arrives. She is the prison's doctor who is shocked by the conditions in which the inmates live. She falls in love with one of the inmates, who we suddenly come to see as noble savage rather than ruthless killer. The moments of tenderness which she is able to give through the excuse of tending to her patient, are very intense. Too soon however the movie swiftly moves on to tell the story of how she starts a campaign to stop the terrible prison conditions. Even though it is very educational, it doesn't make for good drama. The movie focuses in a corny and cheesy manner on the personal relationship between delinquent's hussy, Emma, and her bit of rough. The movie's tone changes completely and it is af if we are suddenly watching another movie. The director should not have tried to tie in 20 years of development, but simply have limited himself to the early years, rather than drag the story on, and on, until it becomes a sugary mess in which inmates, prisoner's wives, police guards and prison directors suddenly love each other to bits.