Reviews

In this film Saura portrays the suffering of Spain after the civil war and during the dictatorship, this is shown through the use of the dry, arid land where the action is set which symbolises the economic ruin of Spain as well as the emotional state of his three main protagonists Luís, José and Paco. The only masterpiece in this film is the subtle use of symbolism, and lets face it Saura didn't have much choice but to use this device due to the censorship laid down by Franco. A masterpiece i think not. A film should be easy to understand and follow without having to look for the meaning so if u cant be bothered with that this is not the film for you. However further cases of symbolism within the film are:

Rabbits= republicans Ferrets= nationalists/the peasant Juan mannequin= the worthlessness of women during the Franco era Enrique= hope, the new generation, not messed up by war, innocence science fiction book (read by Luis)=reality is too hard to bare the German gun= reminds of war as Spain and Germany were allies and the war is never mentioned by characters so Saura gets his point across this way the heat= the ruin of Spain the skeleton= the international brigade and people who died in the war money= the terrible state of the Spanish economy during the Franco era