5 Spanish films you must watch

Spain embraced the medium of cinema and through the many political and international cultural events that took place in the 20th century we saw this medium becoming a strong channel for the exploration of the Spanish spirit. If you haven’t seen these films than stay in tonight and press the play button.

Abre los Ojos / Open Your Eyes

The Hollywood remake of this movie was ‘Vanilla Sky’ with Tom Cruise as lead and Penelope Cruz reprising her original role in Open Your Eyes. The original is a powerful and well told story of love and circumstance.

Photo by: IMDb

Todo Sobre Mi Madre / All About My Mother

All About My Mother is an Oscar-winning masterpiece considered by many to be Pedro Almodóvar’s greatest work. Almodóvar hit international acclaim with Law of Desire (1987) and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), which also propelled Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas into the international spotlight.

Mi padre es Björn Borg / My Father is Björn Borg

This short film has inspired the creation of a very cool Barcelona furniture shop – El Recibidor. So for those of you that have a love of the vintage see this movie and then visit the shop! And yes, the film is about tennis…sort of.

El Espíritu de la Colmena /The Spirit of the Beehive

Set in 1940 in the Castillian countryside, the protagonist of this film is a curios eight-year-old Ana, who after watching the film Frankenstein, becomes convinced there’s a monster lurking in the abandoned houses of her village.

Photo by IMDb

Hable Con Ella/Talk to Her

This is another must-see film by Almodóvar, he won an Oscar for best original screenplay for ‘Talk to Her’. The scenes are juxtapositions of two seemingly unrelated subjects of bull fighting and dance. Both subjects of movement and collaboration with the players involved.

There is a touch of heaviness to the passion or tragic nature of the lives of some of the characters in the films above. Some are underpinned by a sadness of circumstance, very much accentuated for the purpose of storytelling. One thing you can say is they are all so very human. And if you find a part of yourself in one of the characters then no doubt you will be left inspired.