Azucena de la Fuente

A man and a woman meet at a gallery. Who knows where the conversation can lead?

The most spectacular Easter celebration in the World. Hosts of hooded Penitents parade through the ancient, narrow streets of the Old Town in time-honored ritual. But for one celebrant this Holy Week is different. For him Semana Santa is a time to kill. As the death toll mounts, it falls to detective Maria Delgado - mistrusted outsider from Madrid - to stop the bizarre killings.

Lazarus is a Cuban appeal that makes a living in Madrid. When his girlfriend Dolores travels from Cuba to Spain to live with him, he is in prison for kidnapping and attempted rape. Dolores tries to survive with a broken heart, but his sympathy and sensuality will make adjusting to life in Madrid and try to exceed the Lazarus drug addiction.

At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the nun Maria is forced to flee her convent. She takes refuge in a brothel, until it is liberated by a woman's anarchist group. Maria joins the group and eventually goes to the front. The women's group faces the problems of fighting not only the nationalists, but also factions on the left seeking to impose a more traditional military structure.

A woman's day dream gives an ironic view of one of the most dramatic situations suffered by women at home, achieved by swapping the roles of men and women.

In the empty house of his family, Ramon, a poet, remembers the last day of the life of his master: the last time he went out with his friend don Latino de Hispalis, his talk with a minister and his dinner with Ruben Dario.

In a western and Mediterranean country, very fond of bullfighting and soccer, legislative elections are held, that is, "El Gran Mogollón" is elected from the bosses. Each leader feels that his position is secure, and some are preparing to take the presidency of "El Gran Mogollón", when the surprise arises: the P.E.R. has won by a wide margin.

This literary film is imbued with the disenchantment of Spanish exiles who left their homes to protest Franco's fascist regime and then returned after its demise to find that democracy had not instilled either ethics or deep motivation in government leaders. Director Basilio Martin Patino presents his story, and a large part of the film is based on his own life, through the experiences of an exiled heroine played by Charo Lopez. She has returned to Spain to look for meaning in her life, something that she never found living in Germany, not even after having a child. She is also in the process of translating the German lyric poet Friederich Holderlin (see the 1985 Halfte Des Lebens) into Spanish, focusing on his epic Hyperion. Excerpts from the translation are voiced over throughout the film. As she looks up old friends from many, many years ago, even those who have achieved worldly success are suffering from the same ennui that propelled her back home.