Like Satyajit Ray's APARAJITO or Yasujiro Ozu's TOKYO STORY, director Benito Zambrono's SOLAS is a quiet, realistic film that examines relationships between parents and children, the decline of traditional values, and urban anomie. While waiting for her husband to recover in a hospital, a mother (Maria Galiana) stays with her .. Read more
| Starring | Ana Fernandez, Maria Galiana, Juan Fernandez, Carlos Alvarez-Novoa |
|---|---|
| Director | Benito Zambrano |
| Genres | Drama, World Cinema |
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Like Satyajit Ray's APARAJITO or Yasujiro Ozu's TOKYO STORY, director Benito Zambrono's SOLAS is a quiet, realistic film that examines relationships between parents and children, the decline of traditional values, and urban anomie. While waiting for her husband to recover in a hospital, a mother (Maria Galiana) stays with her estranged daughter, Maria (Ana Fernandez), who fled her parents rural home in Andalusia because she could no longer bear her father's abusiveness and her mother's passivity. As the daughter struggles to find dignity in her job and her relationships with men, her mother quietly tries to brighten the life of her daughter and an elderly neighbor with only a dog for a companion. Gradually, Maria realizes that behind her mother's passivity is a strength and compassion that is rare in modern Spain. SOLAS, which means alone, is a low-budget film using little-known actors; it's strong and moving, however, with emotionally wrenching performances from the entire cast. Setting a high standard with his feature-film debut, Zambrano suggests that the solution to loneliness and poverty lies in remembering how to care for others.
| Starring | Ana Fernandez, Maria Galiana, Juan Fernandez, Carlos Alvarez-Novoa, Antonio Dechant, Angel Fernandez, Paco de Osca |
|---|---|
| Director | Benito Zambrano |
| Studio | ARTIFICIAL EYE |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 37 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama, World Cinema |
| Language | DVD: Spanish |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | Production year: 1998 To Rent: DVD: 26 Dec 2001 |
What would Hollywood's ageing actresses give for a role like this? Exuding battered dignity and stubborn devotion, Maria Galiana excels as the rural housewife who quietly transforms her unmarried daughter's life while her abusive, alcoholic husband recovers in a Seville hospital. Galiana's relationship with the prickly, pregnant and bibulous Ana Fernández highlights both Spain's fierce conservatism and its shifting attitude to previously sacrosanct values. But it's her hesitant friendship with Carlos Alvarez Novoa's urbane octogenarian neighbour that gives the film its charm. Debuting film-maker Benito Zambrano's sedate pacing is perfect. But the resolution is rather cosy for an otherwise unsentimental study of suppressed emotion.
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful
Brilliant movie - very uplifting - she brings light into everyone's life (including the doc who gets a baby suit for his wife). Will rent it again in the ... read more »
[Highly rated reviewer]
Solas - Human Conditions
This type of film is beautifully crafted. It evokes all kinds of disharmonious feelings. The characters are complex and also very individually typically human... read more »
Very powerful...
Love it when a film touches you
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