Black Bread (2010)
7/10
Interesting yarn dealing with tribulations of a child at a Catalan village during Spanish post-Civil War
9 May 2015
Dark film with thrilling events , awesome performances , adequate settings and including a spotless as well as shading pictorial cinematography . The flick has some powerful , rousing images and occurs strong and downbeat happenings . This upsetting story of how war creates monsters is set in the harsh post-war years' Catalan countryside , as our hero is Andreu , a little boy (Francesc Colomer) who lives with his parents (Roger Casamajor , Nora Navas)and he then meets the corpses of a man and his son in the woods . The Mayor (Sergi Lopez) and Guardia Civil blame his daddy named Farriol (Roger Casamajor replaced Óscar Jaenada) of the deaths , but Andreu attempts to help him by finding out who actually murdered them . He investigates and finally discovers dark secrets . In this search he betrays his own roots and seeks the terrible truth . Then his father is detained , Andreu gives up hope of seeing him again and he goes home his grandmother , aunts and cousin .

This is a thought-provoking flick dealing with astonishing events as well as a passionate retelling and a touching post-warlike drama with some historical insight . "Pa Negre¨ or ¨Pan Negro¨ being finely adapted by the same director Agustí Villaronga from a novel written by Emili Teixidor about a twisted tale of treason , lies , punishment and redemption . This moving as well as strong story is an emotive recounting and an intense drama , including disturbing intrigues , tragedies , deaths and executions . "Black Bread" results to be other of the uncountable stories to deal with dramatic deeds regarding the Civil War background . A familiar theme about the global horrors of a fratricide war , impossible to forget to Spanish Cinema , as the picture gives a deep detail about lives at a village set during post-Civil War and some atrocities being committed by Francoists . It belongs a sub-genre that revolves around the themes of the civil war through the eyes of a child , as there are a great number of pictures about this engaging issues such as ¨Secrets of heart¨ by Montxo Armendariz , ¨Butterfly's Tongue¨by Jose Luis Cuerda , ¨Viaje De Carol¨ by Imanol Uribe and Pan's labyrinth by Guillermo Del Toro . Agusti Villaronga also writes the script and being filmed in his usual formal and stylistic scholarship , without leaving a trace the thoughtful issues , in terms of dramatic and narrative excitement . The main problem has to face "Pan Negro" , beyond not being able to avoid falling into the politic pamphlet is precisely derived from the coldness of its staging , which eventually become monotonous over 108 minutes of footage . This is an enough budget Spanish production and obtained moderate success in the Spaniard box office . The starring boy is well performed by Francesc Colomer , he plays as Andreu who develops a moral consciousness against a world of adults fed by lies and ends up finding out the monster that lives within him . Excellent support cast forming an enjoyable human group of players and giving excellent interpretations such as Roger Casamajor as a Republican father with deep idealism to be made responsible for two strange deaths , Laia Marull as unsettling Pauleta , Eduard Fernández as abusive teacher and Sergi López who plays a similar role to Pan's labyrinth as a cruel fascist . This was first Catalan-language film to win the Goya Award for Best Film and Spain's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 84th Academy Awards 2012 .

Appropriate and evocative musical score by Jose Manuel Pagan . Dark as well atmospheric cinematography by Antonio Riestra who is nowadays working in internationals productions as ¨Mama¨ , ¨Lidice¨ , ¨Czech-Made Man¨ and ¨Last knights¨. Being filmed on location in Olot , Gerona , Puig-Reig, Santa Fe Montseny, Talamanca, Tavertet, Vic , Puig De Balma , L'Espunyola , Manlleu, Mataró , Barcelona , Catalonia, Spain . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Agusti Villaronga . Agusti was born in 1953 in Majorca, Balearic Islands, he uses to make films including genuine chills , suspense , mystery and dark atmospheres . His movies pack excellent creation of taut , thriller , emotions and rare atmospheres such as ¨Aro Tolbukhin¨ , ¨El mar¨ , ¨El Niño de la Luna¨ and especially ¨In a glass cage¨ or ¨Tras el Cristal¨ . His greatest success was this ¨Black bread¨ or Pa Negre¨ winning several Goyas .
6 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed