Pa negre

I went to see this film with lovely Clare at the Cine Lumiere, which is part of the French Institute in South Kensington.  Very spacious seats in the cinema, with lots of legroom and a lovely curving marble staircase in the lobby.  Well worth a visit.  The film was being shown as part of the London Spanish film festival, and had won none Goya awards, including best film, best director (Agusti Villaronga) and best adapted screenplay.  As you no doubt know, Pa negre is catalan for black bread.  The film is set around Andreu, an 11 year old boy, growing up in a Catalan village in 1944, after the Spanish civil war.  There is a major nastiness at the beginning of the film (any horse lovers look away), with Andreu's father's business partner and his son being murdered.  There then follows a complicated story involving a mysterious ghost, Andreu's extended family (including a beautiful cousin Nuria who loast a hand when she was playing with a grenade) , neighbours, etc, as you try and keep up with who might have done the nasty deed, and why.  Andreu's father Farriol, was a republican, and faces various acts of persecution during the film.  All in all, it was a bit too complicated for me to enjoy fully - too many characters and sub stories, with not enough character development.  Watch out for the scene involving pig castration wire (any males look away).