Spanish Language Movies

Okay Joseph and Ranchos members,

Here are 8 netflix movies, they may be available at blockbuster too but I don't know that for a fact. I have selected them not only for their historical content but are above reproach and are appropriate for family viewing.
Some of the commentaries included are from critics and some are from viewers.

Alicia

1. I the worst of all
The life of brilliant and beautiful 17th-century Mexican poet Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz (Assumpta Serna) gets erotic treatment in this telling drama. To pursue her love of writing, Juana enters a convent and gains international renown. But when the Inquisition comes, the local Vicereine (Dominique Sanda) becomes Juana's protectress and erotic muse, sending the poetess down a romantic road of startling passion and intensity.

2. The Garden of Eden
The U.S.-Mexican border is the setting for this trio of crisscrossing tales about displaced individuals looking for a better life. A Chicano widow and her children seek a new life for themselves; a young white woman searches for her brother; and a migrant farm worker attempts to cross the border. Their lives intersect by chance at the border near Tijuana.

3. The Official Story
Norma Aleandro plays a sheltered rich woman who is jolted to the reality of her world through a quest to find the parents of her little daughter. The truth — that the little girl's parents are victims of Argentina's "Dirty War," where the government repressed its own citizens and killed many of its artists, political activists and regular people in terrible ways — unfolds slowly and painfully. As unbelievable as the main character's ignorance is, it was actually quite typical of the time. But ignorance is not bliss, and the pain of the political repression doesn't leave anyone unscathed.

4. Central Station
Dora (Fernanda Montenegro), who writes letters for illiterate people at Rio de Janeiro's central railroad station, feels compelled to help 9-year-old Josué (Vinícius de Oliveira) locate his estranged father after the child's mother dies in a car accident. As Dora and the boy bond during their journey to Brazil's remote Northeast region, the interplay between them is delightful to watch.

5. Secrets of the Heart
Ican only interpret this film as a true mirror of what life was like in Spain during the 1960s. My Spanish father watched this film with me and told me how it captured a small town life from the view of a curious and innocently naive little boy. It reminded him of his childhood. I feel the slow pace in certain scenes, realistically captures what it is like for an active child who sits waiting for the attention he so much craves from the adults around him. Without any understanding of the hardships of real life that they are experiencing, and protecting him from. The movie will gratifyingly reveal the hidden "secrets" of the heart that we as viewers want to discover along with the boy.

6. Butterfly
An interesting movie, but somewhat maudlin in parts. Beautiful scenery. Most interesting and provocative when it examines the reactions of a rural town and an individual family to the arrival of fascism to pre-World War II. Spain. Especially well suited for those viewers trying to learn Spanish, as the main actor, speaks a beautiful, clear and slow Spanish, and a student will not need to rely totally on subtitles.

7. La Ley de Herodes
It's 1949, and following the brutal murder of a small Mexican town's mayor, the genteel and humble Juan Vargas (Damian Alcazar), a janitor, is appointed his successor. But in spite of his efforts to steer clear of corruption, Juan finally succumbs to the allure of dirty politics, emerging as a man with few scruples and deep grudges. Co-stars Pedro Armendariz Jr. and Delia Casanova.

8. El Abuelo or the Grandfather
On learning that his son has died, an elderly Spanish man (Fernando Fernan-Gomez) returns home from California, having failed to strike it rich during the Gold Rush. Back in his native land, the man finds himself embroiled in a mystery when he learns that his now-deceased son only fathered one of the two "daughters" he left behind; now the old man must find out which one. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film