El Sur (1983)

El Sur is a film by Victor Erice. This is the director’s second film released ten years after his masterpiece in The Spirit of the Beehive. He would go on to only make one more film nine years after this, The Quince Tree Sun. Said to be an extreme perfectionist; he has only made these three feature films in all. Sharing in common with many other auteur directors, Erice too began as a critic.

The story, much like his first film, is from the perspective of a little girl. She lives with her father and mother somewhere in north Spain, and seemingly through her mysterious father seeks traits of south Spain through him. This is all filled with a child like wonder as she grows u, slowly uncovering her father’s past, changing her perspective. The early ramifications include the Spanish Civil War which pitted her father against her grandfather who supported Franco. So like his first film behind it all there is still a consciousness that goes back to the war that saw family members fighting family members.

Voted the sixth best film in 1996 by Spanish film professionals and critics, this film would solidfy Erice among the greatest Spanish film directors, other two I would say are Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar. Both of which have made a lot more films than the three that Erice made. Even more interesting with this film is in how the producer would only let him complete two thirds of the story never actually being able to shoot in the south, of which the film is named.