El viaje a ninguna parte (1986) Online

"El viaje a ninguna parte" ("Voyage to Nowhere") tells the story of a comic actors group: they have to travel on foot from village to village searching bars or cafés where they could act. The movie combines perfectly the comic situations with the dramatic stories of the actors; it's a good portrait of the Spanish poverty during the Franco period, and it's also a good portrait of the hard life of the actors who have to act as extras in some many scenes as they could. This film is directed by Fernando Fernan-Gómez, who also plays a little role; possibly he is the best Spanish actor of his age. It won the Goya (the Spanish Academy Awards) for the best movie on the first show in which this prizes were granted.

The lyric feel of this film doesn't leave aside the tragedy and the comedy of the life of a group of actors (and actually of the whole of the Spanish people) in the specific context of Franco Spain. Poverty, cold, exhaustion but also love, learning, dignity. The whole story is seen through an old man's eyes (José Sacristán playing the leading role) who mixes reality and dream, remembering a story combining facts and fiction. Stubbornnes of human being facing the end of a whole world is perfectly portrayed. Individual wishes and social darkness are also confronted. Fernando Fernán-Gómez (the director, who also plays the leading role's father) is probably one of the most significant Spanish actors, directors and authors of the second half of the XX century