Como un relámpago

This film, literally named "like a flash of lightning," is an unusual film of a teen looking for his real father. The flash of lightening title alludes to the central point in one of the father's main dialogues, where he describes how events and decisions in life often occur. A 17 year old (Eloy Azorin of ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER in his screen debut) from an affluent background (courtesy of single-mom/successful lawyer, played by Assumpta Serna), leaves his comfortable Madrid digs in search for his father. The parent the boy never met now lives in the Canary Islands. This variety of locations provides great opportunities for breathtaking cinematography, and a secondary agenda of contrasting life in Madrid with that in a laid back, stuck-in-a time warp provincial island port city. The father, as portrayed by Spain's outstanding character actor, Santiago Ramos, is pretty much all that the mother is not. The child is fascinated by this new world he discovers as much as he is with his first meeting with his father. The encounter and ensuing relationship between the two is expertly developed by the award-winning director. Though the story line is anything but new, the film's presentation of the situation, the excellent acting, beautiful locales, and illustrative, picturesque views on island life add up to an edgy drama with a difference.