The Holy Innocents (film)
| The Holy Innocents | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) | |
| Spanish | Los santos inocentes |
| Directed by | Mario Camus |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by | Julián Mateos |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Hans Burman |
| Music by | Antón García Abril |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
| Box office | 523,904,385 ₧[1] |
The Holy Innocents (Spanish: Los santos inocentes) is a 1984 Spanish
The film earned wide critical acclaim both in the domestic and the international front,[3] also becoming the highest-grossing Spanish film in Spain at the time.[4]
In the
Plot
Paco and Régula live on a rural estate owned by an absent marchioness. Along them live their three children: Nieves works as a maid in the big house; Quirce is doing his military service; and their youngest daughter Charito is severely handicapped and confined to a crib. The family is joined by Régula's mentally handicapped brother Azarías, sacked from another estate, who loves birds.
Daily life in the cortijo is shown in painstaking detail and displays an oppressive routine, based on a rigid hierarchy wherein members of each echelon feel entitled to humiliate those deemed their social inferiors. At the top of this stratified system lie the aristocrats owning this and other cortijos, as well as the Francoist politicians and Church officials routinely visiting them. Rural middle classes are represented by the manager and his bored wife Pura. The house servants and modern-day serfs tending the land occupy the bottom level and are routinely treated as subhuman beings. For example, the owner's son señorito Iván often comes back to the estate to openly conduct an affair with Pura, and her knowing husband takes out his impotent rage on the labourers, particularly Azarías.
Paco and Régula accept the repeated humiliations of their position as dependents at the whim of the owners and the estate manager, but Nieves and Quirce are less inured to this reality and aim for a better life.
Another reason for Iván's visits is his fanatical love of fowling, and hunting parties are routinely organized in the area. Paco, whom he forces up a tree to decoy pigeons, falls and breaks a leg. Quirce briefly replaces Paco but his aloof demeanor vexes Iván, who is more accostumed to the servility of the young man's parents. When it becomes clear that Paco's leg will not heal in time for the next hunting party, Iván he tries using Azarías and, in a fit of pique during an unsuccessful hunt, shoots the man's pet jackdaw. Next time Azarías is sent up a tree to work decoys, he drops a noose round Ivan's neck and hangs him in retribution. His infantile mental age spares him legal prosecution and he is committed to an asylum.
Cast
- Alfredo Landa as Paco el Bajo
- Terele Pávez as Régula, his wife
- Belén Ballesteros as Nieves, their elder daughter
- Juan Sánchez as Quirce, their son
- Susana Sánchez as La Niña Chica, their younger handicapped daughter
- Francisco Rabal as Azarías, Régula's handicapped brother
- Agustín González as Don Pedro, the estate manager
- Ágata Lys as Doña Pura, his wife
- Mary Carrillo as Señora Marquesa, the estate owner
- Juan Diego as Señorito Iván, her son
- Maribel Martín as Señorita Miriam, her daughter
- Manuel Zarzo as Don Manuel, the doctor
Production
The distinctive landscapes are of the region of
, a folk instrument dating back to medieval times.Release
The film was released theatrically in Spain on 4 April 1984.[6]
See also
References
- Diario ABC(in Spanish). 5 May 1991. p. 102. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ISBN 1-904764-44-4.
- ^ Carrera 2005, p. 179.
- ^ "Spain's All-Time Top Grossing Pics". Variety. May 7, 1986. p. 379.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Los santos inocentes". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- .
External links
- Los santos inocentes at IMDb
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