An intense rural drama about a nutty love story with great cast : Aurora Bautista , José Suarez , Carlos Lemos . Aurelia (Aurora Bautista) is a Castilian peasant who can barely keep up her hubby's estate while he's imprisoned for murder due to strong jealousy. When Juan (José Suarez) enters her service as a farmhand, the land starts regaining its previous glory and this young feels increasingly attracted to his mistress. They need workers in order to grow the reap . However , nobody in the village wants to work in the lands of "the damned". Things go wrong , when one day the jealous husband José (Carlos Lemos) regains freedom and returns home. This is a tense and excessive melodrama whose doomed love affair leads a marriage to a tragedy.
"Condenados" is an overwhelming drama full of sexual connotations and with a layout of unprecedented characters for the era in which the film was shot . This is nice picture with good production design and evocative cinematography by Manuel Berenguer and decent interpretations but partially spoiled by overacting . Manuel Mur Oti's conceptual and political audacity as well as the social critique result to be very evident in this film , with large influence from Neorealism and Expressionism , concerning a fierce rivalry starts between the two men as they confront for Aurelia's heart . Including brief social remarks and popular criticism about rural life , unemployment , deep jealousy , among others . After the national hit smashes as ¨Cielo negro¨ and ¨Un hombre va por el camino¨ , it lets Manuel Mur Oti to write and direct his most ambitious picture : ¨Condenados¨ with a decent main and secondary cast . Stars Aurora Bautista , she was the unforgettable protagonist of such memorable films as ¨La Tia Tula¨, ¨Las ratas¨ , or ¨Locura de Amor¨ . Here she delivers sexiness and seductiveness enough , and , of course , an acceptable interpretation ; however , giving an excessively theatrical acting , while her other parternaires , José Suarez and Carlos Lemos, are much better. Being finely accompanied by an adequate support cast , such as : Félix Fernández , Aníbal Vela and Eugenio Domingo.
It displays an unappropriate and well known Ludwing Van Bethoven's music that doesn't fit to story , being repeatedly and continuously heard through most scenes . Here stands out the stunning cinematography shot on location in the Castilian landscapes , showing the gorgeous outdoors from Medina de Rioseco, Valladolid, Castilla y León, and Camuñas, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain . A really evocative cinematography by the prestigious cameraman Manuel Berenguer , a good cinematographer of super-productions realized in Spain during the 60s and 70s such as ¨The thin red line¨ , ¨Krakatoa , East of Java¨ , ¨Savage Pampas¨ , ¨King of kings¨ and ¨Son of a gunfighter¨. The motion picture was professionally directed by Manuel Mur Oti. It was also compellingly written Manuel Mur Oti who had several problems with the Spanish censorship . Director Mur Oti was a professional craftsman who obtained a great prestige in Cinema Festivals , he started writing scripts for filmmaker Antonio Del Amo . Oti was a multifaceted man , as he was a writer , producer and director , as he began writing screenplays for other filmmakers , being his film debut "Un Hombre Va Por El Camino" 1949 , he went on directing a few films as "Cielo Negro" 1951 , "Orgullo" 1955 , " El Batallón De Las Sombras" , "El Escuadrón Del Pánico" , ¨A Hierro Muere¨. Then, he shot comedies as "Guera Empieza En Cuba" , " Una Chica De Chicago" and " Pescando Millones" . His big hit was ¨Fedra¨ this movie was really censored , that's why to be prohibited a suicide scene and other erotic and sadist images . And he even made Religious genre as "Milagro a Los Cobardes" with the American star Ruth Roman . After his greatest success "Fedra the devil's daughter" Mur Oti directed two films with international cast as "Morir Dormir Tal Vez Soñar" with Jane Seymour and " La Encadenada" with Richard Conte. Rating : 6/10 . Decent drama that will appeal to Spanish cinema enthusiasts .
