Saturday, 10 August
open-air films: Bajar al moro
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GOING DOWN TO MOROCCO 1989 (Bajar al moro) Directed by Fernando Colomo 83 minutes In Spanish with English subtitles
Going down to Morocco is a Spanish film with an intensely fresh summer vibe, set mostly on a couple of roof terraces of Madrid and in a little village in Morocco. On one terrace, Chusa and her cousin roll joints, dream, argue and check out the neighbourhood. He sells sandals at the flea market, while she makes a bit of money on the side picking up hashish in the north Moroccan town of Xauen and selling it to her buddies. Their neighbours and clientele show how diverse life used to be in Madrid - are a collection of penniless bohemians, hesitant priests, hardcore junkies, conservative kleptomaniacs, and a cute weed-smoking cop played by Antonio Banderas.
What the script writer Luis Alonso de Santos (A Tobacconist in Vallecas) wanted, however, wasn't to entertain us with a funny rom-com, but to paint a portrait of modern Spain: one the included the new easy-going spirit of the late eighties as well as the old hang-ups from the Franco years. But although the film is not so much about plot or character development, the actors do a fabulous job at fleshing out the unpredictable, bittersweet lives of people in down-town Madrid before gentrification ironed out all of its wonderful creases.
The film ends up being about how people come together and drift apart regardless of their ideology. And it's also very much about the spirit of the city during those few happy years in the late eighties. Everyone seemed to be ready for a bright future... the Olympics and Expo of 1992 would guarantee a boost to the national economy. In reality, Spain's economy pretty much collapsed following those events; the only thing that sky-rocketed in the nineties was a musical style called New Flamenco. And this is in fact the film that threw a spotlight onto that wave of new music. The gypsy neighbours are played by a band called Pata Negra before they became massive, and jazzy tunes like 'Pasa la vida' are still recognised today as classics of those joyful years.
This will be a high-definition screening.
This evening will be in cooperation with the WG Terrein and Filmhuis Cavia!
Date & Time:
Category:
- film
Price:
- free