Spanish film industry

Last week, the Spanish Film Academy celebrated its annual festival, with the awards to the best films of the years. The ceremony could be watched on TV and it did not get very positive critics indeed. I think that what we watched was the real image of the Spanish film industry.

Spanish cinema is one of the most favoured industries in Spain. It seems that one of the main functions of the State is to give money to directors and actors, in order to promote Spanish culture. So far, I agree. But the quality of most of Spanish film is really disgusting. When they proudly state that the best film in the last year is "Los dos lados de la cama" (a sucession of sex scenes and songs from the eighties), something is not going as it should go.

Here is the plot of a typical Spanish comedy. It is the story of some urban people, with good jobs and enough money as to live in the city centre. Besides, all of them fall in love with each other, have sex and are not ready for the adult age. With that, some sex scenes are justified (??) as well as some coarse jokes. I admit I am not being very patriotic, but when watching a film I require a little more that a young woman naked. For example, and I swear it is true, I have never seen a film with Paz Vega in which she does not show her breasts.

Then, given the low quality of most of Spanish films, what happens if a good director, like Alejandro Aménabar, makes a film? He gets 14 awards out of 18 (as Aménabar did with “The sea inside”). Something similar happened this year with Isabel Coixet and her film "The secret life of words". And among this lack of talent, jealousy plays an important role.

But what makes me really angry is that all of us must finance this industry with our taxes, for the development of Spanish culture. Then, actors and directors are some kind of gang of bohemian people living really well, going out every night and most of them not knowing the meaning of “hard work”. I think every one must live as he wishes, but what I do not tolerate so easily is that I have to pay this kind of live.

Lastly, if you complain about the quality of Spanish cinema, then you are considered pro-American and pro-Hollywood (I do not understand why if I say I do not like Spanish film, it implies I love American films; maybe I do not like them all). Also, it is considered “modern” and “cool” being a fan of Spanish films. I still remember with horror a sentence I heard some time ago: “given the choice, I always prefer a Spanish film”. No, no, no, I would state: “given the choice, I prefer a good film”.