El viaje de Carol

Drama with historical and romantic elements ; including enjoyable performances and adequate set design . Carol (Clara Lago), a twelve-year-old Spanish-American girl , daughter of a Spanish mother (Maria Barranco) and an American father , travels to Spain in the spring of 1938 in the company of his mummy . Separated from her father who is helping to fight Franco's military regime near Madrid , he is a pilot in the International Brigades who she adores, as her arrival in a little town transforms maternal family environment full of secrets and dangers . She soon journeys into adulthood through a friendship with Maruja (Rosa Maria Sarda) , the village teacher and forming bonds with old and new friends. Armed with a rebellious nature, opposes life lessons from his grandfather (Alvaro De Luna) and his love for Tomiche (Juan Jose Ballesta) will open doors to a world of adult feelings that will make her trip turns into a tender, vital and unforgettable experience but also tragic . The screen livens up as love blossoms between Carol and Tomiche and as a love of daughter for a daddy becomes evident and finally risked .

Imanol Uribe , also writes the script along with with Angel Roldan , novel's author titled "A Boca De Noche" , filmed in his usual formal and stylistic scholarship , without leaving a trace the thought-provoking issues , in terms of dramatic and narrative excitement . The flick can be defined as a realistic tragicomedy , a romantic history , a historic fresco and a socio-political fable . The main problem has to face "Carol's journey", beyond not being able to avoid falling into the politic pamphlet is precisely derived from the coldness of its staging . Because the story needs a vibration more real than the one offered in this sometimes slow-moving flick , though also contains humorous and sensitive moments as when the children gang is gathered and play and enjoy themselves . Anyway, its is compensated with the great performances from Clara Lago and Juan Jose Ballesta , interpreters who provided a considerable boost to the result . Imanol is a great director of actors and the main players are complemented by a good cast of secondaries as Alvaro De Luna , Rosa Maria Sarda , Maria Barranco , Albert Jimenez ,Carmelo Gomez , among others ; all of them forming a powerful human group of support cast and giving excellent interpretations . Special mention to magnificent musical score by Bingen Mendizabal who composes an evocative as well as sensitive musical score . Including a spotless pictorial cinematography by Gonzalo Berridi and a willingness , almost perfect of the elements of each shot , every sequence , every space . The original story was set in Castile, but Uribe decided to move on north of Spain, where have been shot the gorgeous landscapes , filmed on location in Cantabria, Estación de Puente Taboada, Pontevedra, Galicia ,Palacio Hornillos, Las Fraguas, Santander, Cantabria, and Ponte De Barca, Portugal . The film won three Goya nominations 2002 for Best Production, Actress (for the girl Clara Lago, who made ​​his film debut with this film) and costume design . And won Crystal Bear , Special Mention Best Feature Film for Imanol Uribe in Berlin International Film Festival .

This Fernando Bovaira production was professionally written by Angel Roldan and Imanol Uribe who also directed , though has some flaws and resulted to get an acceptable success at Spanish Box office . Uribe who lived and had a son with actress María Barranco , gained fame early in his career for his controversial socio-political portraits of the Basque people such as ¨Fuga Segovia¨, ¨Muerte Mikel¨ and he turned to thriller as ¨Adios Pequeña¨, ¨Running out of time¨ , ¨Plenilunio , ¨Carta Esferica¨ and drama as ¨Bwana¨ , ¨Rey Pasmado¨ and ¨Extraños¨ .

Yesterday my Spanish / Catalan wife and myself saw this emotional lesson in history. Spain is going into the direction of political confrontation again. That is why this masterpiece should be shown in all Spanish High Schools. It is a tremendous lesson in the hidden criminality of fascism. The American pilot who gets involved in the Spanish Civil War chooses for the democratically elected Republican Government. The criminal role of religion is surprisingly well shown in one of the most inventive scenes that Uribe ever made. The colors are magnificent. The cruelty of a war (could anybody tell me the difference between Any war and a Civil war ?)is used as a scenario of hope when two young children express their feelings and protect each other. The cowards that start their abuse of power even towards innocent children are now active again. A film like 'El viaje de Carol'/ 'Carol's journey' tells one of the so many sad stories of the 20th Century. It is a better lesson in history than any book could contain. Again great work from the Peninsula Iberica !

Carol, the young girl at the center of the story, is transplanted to a foreign land, Spain, at the height of the Civil War conflict in the late 30s. For this girl, everything is new, in it's foreignness. The war and her father are her constant worries, while she has to immerse herself in a provincial culture that is years behind what she has in New York.

Imanol Uribe directs this film by the numbers. Carol's family is obviously divided, while Carol's mother is married to someone that is an air force pilot with the leftist faction, the rest of the family's sympathies are with the Franco and the fascists that won the conflict.

The story adds nothing to what has already been told, much better, but it's an easy film to watch. Northern Spain's magnificent landscape is shown. Don't expect a lot of action since most of what happens revolves around Carol and the young boys she befriends.

Clara Lago plays Carol with sincerity and innocence. Maria Barranco is Carol's mother Aurora, the one that went away to America. Rosa Maria Sarda is Maruja, the teacher who befriends Carol. Carmelo Gomez, plays Alfonso, the man that Aurora left behind when she left for America. This actor, who usually has lead roles in most Spanish films, doesn't have anything to do, as he remains an enigma throughout the movie.

Another Spanish movie about the 1936 Civil War. This time we're told about the story of Carol (lovely played by débutant Clara Lago), a little girl which comes to live to a little Spanish village from New York. It is such an initiating trip, and soon she'll find about the injustices of the human race, their stupid fights and conflicts, their contradictions.

Imanol Uribe makes his best film since "Días Contados" (1994) with such a sober pulse, a beautiful photography, and a nice script. He tries not to take part in the conflict, he just shows us some facts and let us decide (ok, the facts are explicit enough to make us decide in which band are we in) and he takes a huge advantage of the presence and the freshness of the young starring couple: Clara Lago and Juan José Ballesta.

A well cared production.

My rate: 7/10

Some unsuspecting films carry a message that resonates in the hours and days after viewing. Such is the case for CAROL'S JOURNEY (EL VIAJE DE CAROL), a beautifully crafted 2002 film from Spain based on the novel 'A boca de noche' by Ángel García Roldán who also adapted the book as a screenplay. War and its consequences are not new subject matter for films, but when that war theme plays in the background as a subtle driving force to develop characters (especially children) who must face adult life influenced by the games of adults, the result is a different and more tender examination of the coming of age film genre.

Carol (Clara Lago) is a 12-year-old Spanish American youngster from New York who with her critically ill mother Aurora (María Barranco) returns to her Aurora's home in 1938 at the height of the Spanish Civil War, a home that has been left deserted by her father Don Amalio (Álvaro de Luna) since his wife's death. Carol's father Robert (Ben Temple) is a fighter pilot who has sided with the Republicans against Franco and is rarely with his family. Aurora has a past: she left her lover Alfonso (Alberto Jiménez) to marry Robert, and Alfonso in turn married Aurora's cold sister Dolores (Lucina Gil). Carol is an independent girl who remains aloof to all but her grandfather Don Amalio until she meets others her age but not of her 'class': Tomiche (Juan José Ballesta) and his two friends at first resent Carol, but as events develop Carol and Tomiche are bonded by what feels like the first awakenings of love. When Aurora dies of her illness, Carol must live with Alfonso and Dolores and their daughter Blanca (Luna McGill), yet turns to her grandfather for support and to her mother's best friend and teacher Maruja (the always radiant Rosa Maria Sardà) to understand the disparity between classes and the senseless war that keeps her beloved father from her side. Through a series of incidents Carol and Tomiche learn the rigors of becoming adults, facing more traumas in a brief period of the war than most of us experience in a lifetime. The ending, though sad, is uplifting as Carol's journey to maturity is complete.

The film is shot in Galicia and Portugal and contains some extraordinarily beautiful settings captured with gentle sensitive lighting by cinematographer Gonzalo F. Berridi and enhanced by the musical score by Bingen Mendizábal. Director Imanol Uribe understands the fine line separating pathos from bathos, and in electing to concentrate the story on the children involved, he makes an even stronger statement about the futility and cruelty of war. The cast is exceptional: the stars clearly are young Clara Lago and Juan José Ballesta, but they are supported by the fine veteran actors in the adult roles. This is a visually stunning work with a lasting message and should find a much larger audience than it has to this date. Grady Harp