Cinema
Dawn Breaks, Which Is No Small Thing
Amanece, que no es poco
José Luis Cuerda · 1989
Synopsis
A young Spanish engineer who teaches at the University of Oklahoma returns to Spain for a sabbatical year. With his father, he arrives in a remote village in the sierra of Albacete, which seems deserted: all the inhabitants are at Mass, as on every day of the year. The village lives by rules that belong to it alone; elections are held there to fill various offices, while strange visitors turn up, among them a group of American students. The two newcomers observe, without always understanding.
Context
The first film shot by its author in his native region, it was filmed in Aýna, Liétor and Molinicos, in the Sierra del Segura, and hundreds of local inhabitants appear in it: their manners and their speech make up the substance of the film. The gala premiere took place at the Gran Hotel cinema in Albacete on 13 January 1989, without the author, kept at home by hepatitis; the release followed a few days later in Madrid. For the twentieth anniversary, the region created a route of the filming locations, and the screenplay was published as a book in 2013.
Who it is for
An ensemble comedy of absurd humour, without a continuous plot; everything in it is treated with the utmost seriousness.
Prizes and reception
Just over 306,000 admissions on its release; since then a cult film, which established its director.