The Spanish Civil War and the nearly forty-year dictatorship that followed continue to haunt Spanish cinema, nearly thirty-three years since Franco's death. This dark period in Spanish history has been examined across many genres, in works as diverse as Guillermo del Toro's acclaimed and fantastical Pan's Labyrinth (2006) to Spanish veteran José Luis Cuerda's Butterfly Tongues (1999), a realist look at how war robs children of their innocence. Cuerda returns to this troubled time with his latest feature, Blind Sunflowers, in which he investigates the darkness of the post-Civil War era, the effects of repression and the terrible consequences of the abuse of power.
Set in 1940, a year after the Civil War's end and a time of particularly violent oppression, Blind Sunflowers tells the tale of a family forced to lie to the outside world and live in constant terror of discovery. Every time that Elena (Maribel Verdú) walks into her flat and locks the door behind her, a different life begins. To the outside world, she appears to live alone with her son, Lorenzo (Roger Príncep), and daughter, Elenita (Irene Escolar). In reality, however, her husband Ricardo (Javier Cámara), a Republican schoolteacher, has been living in hiding with his family.
Salvador (Raúl Arévalo, in an incredibly nuanced performance) was a young seminary student when he was sent to the war. Now harbouring doubts about both the conflict and the priesthood, he has been posted as a teacher at Lorenzo's school, where he meets Elena and soon becomes obsessed with her. Increasingly tortured by the horrors that he not only saw but also committed during the war, Salvador struggles to quiet the conflict between his conscience and his desires – a flaw that threatens to destroy Elena and her family.
A carefully crafted script and an impeccable cast help to illuminate the terrors of the time. Populated with tortured souls victimized by the era, Blind Sunflowers is a powerful story about the destruction wrought by suppression and hypocrisy.
Diana Sanchez
José Luis Cuerda was born in Albacete, Spain. He worked extensively in television early in his career and taught film directing at the Universidad de Salamanca. He has also worked as a producer on several films, including Alejandro Amenábar's Thesis (96), Open Your Eyes (97) and The Others (01). As a director, his films include El Bosque Animado (87), La Marrana (92), Butterfly Tongues (99) and Blind Sunflowers (08).