Los lunes al sol

It is really a pity that such a wonderful, compelling and important film, isn't able to get through to a bigger audience. But however.

"Los lunes al sol" is very calm and slow but all the more empathetic, touching and above all compelling.

The film shows the dull everyday life of a group of jobless deckhands, who try to get their lives back under control. One of them gets goes to job interviews almost every day, but gets refusal after refusal, because is too old. Another one has familial troubles because of his dismissal and another one drowns his frustration in regular boozing.

Despite the obvious socio-critical message of it, the film doesn't get polarizing or hostile to capitalism at any time, thanks to the terrific performances of all actors (above all Javier Bardem), and the sensitive script that particularly emphasizes the character's conflicts and their dealing with their situations. The note of the film is not a very political or even cynical one, it is very tranquil and melancholic. The actual brilliance of the film consists in the awesomely empathetic portrayal of the feelings of the jobless persons, that have to get used to the situation, that they are the scum of society from now on.

The beautiful soundtrack and the excellent editing and cinematography add to the sad but at times also hopeful atmosphere.

It's actually a great pity that no other film before has dealt with such an important issue that affects almost everybody's everyday life today.

Michael Moore could learn a lesson from Fernando León de Aranoa of how to combine social criticism and the affected person's fates. I wish there could be more films like this, that let you leave the theater with a comfortable feeling, but that give a thought provoking impulse at the same time.

How do you imagine the life of an unemployed without family, possession or future? Dull is certainly one of the answers, but this movie does the utmost of this basic story! It's a great achievement to tell something so boring without becoming itself dull and boring. At some points it is even funny and every minute is well done. Really intelligent script with great actors. Especially the actor of Santos! By far the best way to get a glimpse of a life nobody wants to have. It isn't a movie for everybody, because it isn't an easy popcorn movie. The presence of your mind is required but you will be certainly rewarded with an insight that you'll hopefully never experience.

"Mondays in the Sun" speaks boldly, loudly, and honestly albeit narrowly about the plaintive existence of a group jobless Spanish shipyard workers. What this study of working class men lacks in depth of story it makes up for in depth of character as it moves methodically through bitter, sweet, poignant, and humorous moments with sincerity, honesty, and drenched in masculinity. With high marks from public and critical corners alike, "Mondays in the Sun" will be time well spent for most. (B+)

February, 2001 says the calendar inside the wharf-side bar; Rico splashes out the drinks and his precocious 15 year-old daughter Nata (Aïda Folch) looks on, absorbing the intensity of fiery language: her father's customers are unemployed boat-yard workers, drifters over forty, approaching fifty.

Fernando León de Aranoa, basing himself on the real lay-offs which happened in the boatyards of Gijón (Asturias) ten years earlier, and indeed using footage from newsreports, reconstructed his own story and transferred the proceedings to Vigo (Galicia) in the extreme north-west of Spain. The resulting `Los Lunes al Sol' is a social document portraiting a few men `on the dole' and their sombre outlook, however not lacking in sparkling humour and witty dialogues.

The year 2002 will be remembered as the year of `Hable con Ella' (qv) and `Los Lunes al Sol', a year in which mostly men take first place on the screen, moving the ladies to one side. Heroically, considering Spanish masculine mentality, there is no macho-building exercise in force in either of these two excellent films. The two films have competed head-on at the San Sebastián film festival, as well as in the Spanish Film Academy to be chosen to represent Spain for the Oscars, and so on, and have come out more or less level. If my personal preference is Almodóvar's superb dramatical piece, this in no way deflects from `Lunes al Sol', a magnificent sociological drama which even manages to creep in to certain foibles and other typicalisations without any cheapening effect which would have been detrimental to the telling of the story.

Javier Bardem is superb and magnificently backed up by Luis Tosar and José Angel Egido, and there are no superlatives for Celso Bugallo's lesser but extremely important part as Amador. Joaquín Climent as the bar-owner Rico is absolutely correct, and the Russian Serge Riaboukine is spot on. And the ladies ……….? Well, definitely in secondary roles, but Nieve de Medina as the suffering wife – Ana – working in the sea-food canning plant gives a resounding interpretation, and Laura Domínguez as Angela is fine. But all eyes are fascinated by fifteen year old Aïda Folch as the precocious daughter, who observes all and learns from it, and applies her own methods to reach her own goals. She gets a baby-sitting job, hires `Santa' to do the job for her, so that he pockets 3,000 pesetas (about $20), she keeps 2.000 pesetas as commissions, and hops off to seek out her boyfriend. In her other film, `El Embrujo de Shanghai' (qv), alongside Fernando Tielve, directed by Fernando Trueba, we see she has that natural coquettish way which is going to take her very very far in the world of cinematography. I only hope she stays in Spain to do so, she keeps her beautiful little head well and truly planted on her shoulders, and does not suddenly disappear over the other side of the Atlantic, as so often happens to our prodigies.

You come away from this film feeling that you have barely ever seen a team pull so hard together to make the result work: the film has a significant message to transmit and it had to do so through skillfully worked characteriology driven by dialogues that shift from the retrospective to the witty, through scenes that move from outright funny to downright sad. It works: the Spanish public identify with these `real' characters and natural language replete with non-dictionary spicey terms, as these men live out their empty, frustrating life of unemployment.

Excellent work here by the young director Fernando León de Aranoa: I shall be looking forward to seeing more of his films, and no doubt I shall acquire the video of `Los Lunes al Sol' as soon as it is in the shops.

Two movies, one topic. I have watched "The pursuit of happiness" first and "Los lunes al sol" (http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0319769/) a couple of days later. Both movies have the same rating on IMDb.com and this is frankly not the case. "The pursuit of happiness" is a remix of the "one in a million" idea: one guy against all odds, facing the worst situation, makes it. I know this is a true story, but the story of *just one* who "makes it" (which can be compared to a lottery win - because how *many* people are out there trying?) may lead to the illusion that - as long as you "want" - you *can* make it. Sort of "hang on" movie. "Los lunes al sol" instead shows you what happens to the rest - to the non - Chris Gardeners of this world and is much more realistic. The fact that "The pursuit of happiness" was nominated for an Oscar confirms that we are encouraged to watch movies which consider the fate of one, not of manys. Absurd. "Los lunes al sol" is a must see.