José Ángel Egido Movies

A pair of reporters uncover a secret war that threatens the peace of two nations in this thriller based on actual events. In the 1980s, the Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberacion (or GAL) was an anti-terrorist organization sponsored by the Spanish government that was launched in response to attacks by a Basque revolutionary force, the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (or ETA). However, the GAL developed a reputation for reckless violence and targeting the wrong people, and Spanish progressives regarded them as little more than a gang of hit men. When an innocent Frenchman is killed by GAL forces, the story attracts the attention of Pablo (Abel Folk), a newspaper editor, who assigns two of his best writers, Manuel (Jose Garcia) and Marta (Natalia Verbeke) to look into the GAL and its leadership. As Manuel and Marta learn more about GAL chief Ariza (Jordi Mollà), they unravel a web of violence and corruption that leads to the highest offices in the land. GAL was produced in part by Melchor Miralles, one of the real-life journalists who uncovered the GAL scandal, while the newspaper that carried his stories, El Mundo, provided financing for the picture. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Set in the Spanish port city of Vigo, Fernando León de Aranoa's Mondays in the Sun is a touching drama about a group of working-class men who find themselves suddenly unemployed and unwanted in their middle age. Laid off from the local shipyard, the men spend their days at the town bar, where they reminisce, philosophize, and commiserate about their current state. Gruff Santa (a bearded Javier Bardem) puts up a tough front, refusing to sink into self-pity, and occasionally pricking his friends' hopes. Morose José (Luis Tosar) openly worries about his wife, whom he fears might leave him. That seems to have been the fate of Amador (Celso Bugallo), the oldest of the bunch, who keeps reassuring everyone that his wife will be back any day now from her trip. Meanwhile, Lino (José Ángel Egido) refuses to give up hope of employment, going to interview after interview for jobs being offered to applicants half his age. Presiding over the glum bunch is Rico (Joaquín Climent), the bar owner and the men's co-worker from the shipyard days. Despite its depressing subject and downbeat mood, Mondays in the Sun was a big winner at the 2003 Goya Awards, Spain's equivalent of the Oscars, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Bardem. The film was also Spain's surprise representative for the 2003 Oscars' Foreign Language film category, nabbing the distinction over Pedro Almodóvar's critically lauded Talk to Her. ~ Elbert Ventura, Rovi

A young boy develops a close relationship with his grandmother, as he develops a new perspective on the adult world while it drifts into chaos in this periodcomedy drama from Cuban filmmaker Pavel Giroud. In 1958, as Fidel Castro's revolution lurks on the horizon, recently divorced Alicia (Susana Tejera) arrives in Havana and lands on the doorstep of her mother Violeta (Mercedes Sampietro) with her ten-year-old son Samuel (Iván Carreira) in tow. While Alicia is plagued with a childlike lack of responsibility, Samuel seems wise beyond his years, and sometimes seems to be looking after his mother. Free-spirited Violeta is not happy to be caring for Alicia again and seems no more enthusiastic about helping to raise her child, but she soon develops a rapport with Samuel as he develops a keen interest in her work as a portrait photographer. As Violeta begins teaching her grandson the basics of photography, Samuel's skills soon rival her own, but the work teaches him a few things about the responsibilities and trials of the larger world. La Edad de la peseta (aka The Silly Age) received its North American premier at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi