The blind sunflowers : a fantastic historical drama
The Blind Sunflowers is a 2008 Spanish film directed by José Luis Cuerda and written by Rafael Azcona and Cuerda based on the excellent novel masterfully written by Alberto Méndez. The film stars Maribel Vedú , Javier Cámara and Raúl Arévalo are so convincing in their role that can hold the audience captive. The plot follows the life of a family , former sympathisers of the Spanish Republic during the early 1940s. Their lives are totally disturbed when Salvador a confused priest after battling in the front falls in love with the mother (Elena) which Salvador thinks is widowed. Every time that Elena locks the door , she locks a secret , her husband Ricardo is hidden in the house with their children (Elenita and Lorenzo), trying to dodge persecution. This superb historical drama deals with the terrible consecuences of the Spanish Civil War and gives a truthful account of the Spain historical legacy without prejudices. If I have to give one reason to watch the film it would be the historical conciousness that will gave you a deep insight into this complex political period. The film is set in Ourense, a charming riverside town in Spain but the bedroom is often the inmediate focus of the story. The characters of the Blind Sunflowers hit the wall of repression , impossible romances as well as emotional defeats. I dare say that the film is not a true reflection of the novel , the recording itself is uncertain across sections of the book . Some of them sound perfectly fine while others are suddenly and inexplicably distorted. I would say that the film could have further explored the tension and terror of “ The Franco Regime “ although the infatuation theme is well explored. To sum up, this is a well made film on the technical side , it looks clean , the polished sets , costumes , locations and so on are nice to look at .