Black Bread (2010)

In the harsh post-war years' Catalan countryside, Andreu, a child that belongs to the losing side, finds the corpses of a man and his son in the forest. The authorities want his father to ... See full summary »

Director:

Agustí Villaronga

Writers:

Emili Teixidor (novel), Agustí Villaronga (adaptation)

Stars:

Francesc Colomer, Marina Comas, Nora Navas

31 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Francesc Colomer	...	Andreu
Marina Comas	...	Núria
Nora Navas	...	Florència
Roger Casamajor	...	Farriol
Lluïsa Castell	...	Ció
Mercè Arànega	...	Sra. Manubens
Marina Gatell	...	Enriqueta
Elisa Crehuet	...	Àvia
Andrés Herrera	...	Dionís
Pep Tosar	...	Comisari
Lázaro Mur	...	Tísic
Jordi Pla	...	Quirze
Andrea Caro	...	Roviretes
Laia Marull	...	Pauleta
Eduard Fernández	...	Mestre

Storyline

In the harsh post-war years' Catalan countryside, Andreu, a child that belongs to the losing side, finds the corpses of a man and his son in the forest. The authorities want his father to be made responsible of the deaths, but Andreu tries to help his father by finding out who truly killed them. In this search, Andreu develops a moral consciousness against a world of adults fed by lies. In order to survive, he betrays his own roots and ends up finding out the monster that lives within him.

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Plot Keywords:

killing a horse | male frontal nudity | spanish civil war | male pubic hair | male full frontal nudity | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nora Navas auditioned for a role on Després de la pluja (2007), a TV-Movie Agustí Villaronga directed. The director didn't cast her because she didn't fit any role, but kept her in mind for other roles.

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Crazy Credits

Twenty minutes after the movie beginns, there is a second title; "Retrato de un asesino de pájaros" (portrait of a birds killer).

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Connections

Referenced in Special Collector's Edition: B.A.D. Cats (2011)

User Reviews

Pa Negre: Dark and Deep

Black Bread begins with a familiar scene: a man leads his horse and cart through a darkened wood, glancing around with unease at the various forest sounds which break the tense silence. A fairy-tale quality hangs over the scene, the images framed in wide angles and brought to life with rich autumnal hues; perhaps this will be a fantasy parable. When an assailant attacks the traveller, binds him in the cart, and leads the now-blindfolded horse to the cliff's edge, brutally smashing it in the face with a sledge hammer, our stomachs concomitantly fold alongside the illusion that this will be anything but sickeningly real. It is the first clue to us that we are not in for the easiest of rides; many of the images that will come to us will be disturbing, even distressing.

Set in the years following the Spanish civil war, the film portrays the lingering dissent and tarnished political atmosphere of a nation divided. Andreu—the young boy who discovers the wreckage and is caught up in the post-civil war world of deceit that grips his small village as he attempts to discover the truth behind the "accident"—is sent to live with his grandmother, aunt, and cousins when his father—having fought for the losing side along with the murdered man—is forced to flee in fear of his own life. Andreu's journey to discover what happened to the cart and its riders takes him into the darkness within his village, his family, and even himself.

It seems to me that there is a recurrent idea in modern Spanish-language cinema: to explore the issues of the civil war through the eyes of a child. Predating Black Bread, there are a number of films such as Butterfly's Tongue and Pan's Labyrinth which use the same concept. Examining the war through young eyes contextualises it, reducing it to its most fundamental perceptible elements and providing a fascinating perspective on (in the case of the former) the senselessness of condemning people by ideology alone and (the latter) the monstrousness of war and the frivolity of conflict. In a way, Black Bread achieves both of these things, though far more so the second. It demonstrates not the horror of war itself, but the horror of the people war creates; the capability for evil of those left living. The dark truths Andreu unearths are as horrifying as any war, the images he dreams up truly disturbing. The child protagonist is a proxy through whom we see things at their most stripped-down, basic, and shocking, exposing to us the sheer lunacy of humanity's follies. Surprising is the film's tackling of a particular societal issue which gradually becomes the centre of its comment upon our race, and the animalistic prejudices which, sadly, so often characterise us. Worth making mention of is the film's name, something of a motif referring to the secondary theme of class and social standing, commenting upon the sickening imbalance between the wealthy and the poor in times of hardship. Most films would do well to achieve half the depth Black Bread manages with this theme, and it is a secondary one.

A worthy addition to the fray of Spanish civil war dramas, Black Bread is a surprisingly dark and deep examination of war's effect upon the lives and personalities of those who suffer through it. Condemning the capability of ordinary people to do extraordinary evil, it is an impactful portrait of guilt, responsibility, society, and family.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Spain] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Spain

Language:

Catalan Spanish

Release Date:

15 October 2010 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Black Bread

Filming Locations:

Cànoves i Samalús, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,784,105

Company Credits

Production Co:

Massa d'Or Produccions, Televisió de Catalunya (TV3)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1