"Ay, Carmela!" [VHS] | ![Ay, Carmela! [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HPQ07RM7L._SL160_.jpg) | Director: Carlos Saura
Actors: Carmen Maura, Andrés Pajares, Gabino Diego, Maurizio De Razza, José Sancho
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Category: Video
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $6.99
as of 7/30/2010 11:15 MDT details
You Save: $12.99 (65%)
Used (11) from $6.99
Seller: timeless-movies
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 14380
Format: Color, NTSC
Languages: Italian (Original Language), Polish (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: VHS Tape
Discs: 1
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 1559838809
UPC: 026359067334
EAN: 9786302253771
ASIN: 6302253772
Theatrical Release Date: February 8, 1991
Release Date: June 23, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Tell A Friend
Add to Wishlist
Add to Wedding Registry
Add to Baby Registry
| |
| Similar Items:
| |
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
 A good cast, script could be better though. July 21, 2008
Peter Beyer (Dortmund)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Spain, 1938: The Republicans (the good guys) are at Civil War with the Nationalist Fascists (the bad guys), led by General Francisco Franco (the baddest). Entertaining the good-guy troops is a rag-tag theatrical troupe consisting of Carmela (Carmen Maura), her lover Paulino (Andres Pajares) and their gofer, the mute Gustavete (Gabino Diego). Carmela Co. aren't all that intellectual or idealistic, but their narcissistic hearts are basically in a politically correct place and they seem to enjoy giving the Republican guys a few laughs and the odd tear; no one appears to notice, or to mind, that they aren't really all that good.
br /
br /Directed by Carlos Saura, best known for the caliente flamenco films Carmen and Blood Wedding, Ay, Carmela! has rather too much in common with Carmela's company. It's technically rag-tag and droopy, neither analytical enough to be challenging nor sensual enough to be exciting. Conceived as a cross between Bye Bye Brazil and Mother Courage, it ends up a politicized Goodbye, Dolly!. That's a movie that the dazzlingly talented, irreverent pixie Pedro Almodovar (Women on the Verge of a Ner vous Breakdown) might have been able to bring off, but not the relatively flat-footed Saura.
br /
br /The star of Ay, Carmela!, Carmen Maura, became famous through her work with Almodovar, of course, and she's fitfully amusing here, doing her Carmen Miranda"Susan Hayward routine, but Rafael Azcona's see-through script merely serves to expose her flaws as a dramatic actress (she's great at extremes, not so hot at normal behaviour).
br /
br /The rest of the cast falls victim to that same flimsy script, which wafts toward a teary climax as easy to forecast as rain in Vancouver. For indigenous audiences - the picture has been a big hit in Spain - the movie is no doubt important and moving, presenting as it does the reality of a war hidden for many years by Franco's repression. But for the rest of us, it's merely an attempt to translate a history we already know into a kind of entertainment we've seen too many times. Ay, Carmela, and adios. Conrad Alton, Filmbay Editor.
 ¡Ay,Carmela! May 26, 2008
Barbara E. Roos (danbury ct usa)
Even if you do not know a lot about the Spanish Civil War, you will enjoy this incredible movie about that time period in history. There is comedy, tragedy, pathos, suspense and wisdom in this story of a piece of the war as seen through the eyes of two traveling entertainers who happen to land up in the wrong place at the wrong time. The film crescendos to an ending of hope, believe it or not. It does not matter if you understand Spanish, the subtitles are excellent and the performances are superb. I have even used this film for an AP Spanish class of high school seniors and it left a lasting impression on them!
Beautiful and thought provoking November 24, 2007
Julie (Connecticut,USA)
br /This movie is brilliant!
br /...Three performers travel across Spain with an anti-Franco troupe risking their lives to fuel the resistance against a fascist government takeover. After being captured, they must choose between their freedom and their lives...
br /Beautifully put together with wonderful acting and an intriguing script, I recommend this movie to everyone. "Ay, Carmela!" is not only deep, moving, and interesting, but it still keeps one laughing from time to time with funny jokes. You really ought to watch this movie, even if you know nothing about the Spanish Civil War!
br /
br /
br /
br /DVD version (doesn't work with most U.S. DVD players):
br /
br /Ay, Carmela! (¡Ay, Carmela!) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]
Shame there's no Region 1 Format DVD available February 9, 2007
Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Carlos Saura's work often revolves around the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the basis of his searing childhood memories. That conflict is front and center here in this brilliant, fascinating tale of Republican/Loyalist entertainers who inadvertently cross into Francoist/Nationalist-controlled territory and are forced to "put on a show"...with predictably tragic results.
br /
br /Fans of Spanish cinema like works by Pedro Almodóvar - especially his pieces with Carmen Maura - will love this film. Maura is outstanding here. Recent Almodóvar converts will know Maura from her supporting turn in Volver (as Penelope Cruz's character's mother). Maura won Spain's equivalent of the Oscar (ADIRCAE Awards) that year (1991), co-star Andrés Pajares won Best Actor, Saura took the Best Director nod, and the film itself was Picture of the Year.
br /
br /It's a shame there's no Region 1 Format DVD of "Ay, Carmela!" available for purchase. It's an outstanding piece of work.
 Franco Flaminco December 7, 2004
Oslo Jargo (FINLAND)
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
**Parts of Plot Revealed*
br /
br /The begining of this film had some motion to it but when it couldn't decide if it was a comedy or an attack on Franco, it lost the steam and everyone became confused. It didn't even work because it was dull and monotonous also. The plot concerns a comedy acting troupe who was hired by the Republican officer corps to entertain enlisted troops. We see Carmela, who is a robust and an attractive older woman who can dance the flamenco. Her husband, a weak, tired former opera singer who is so dull he can't even make love to her and their companion, a young mute who is always reprimanded. We follow them as they attempt to go to Valencia and away from the war. When they are captured by Nationalist troops, everything goes insane, they are locked up in a detainee camp and they witness communists and other prisoners of the "evil" nationalists get executed. Problem here is, the Republicans, and more so the communists executed just as many prisoners but obviously this is supposed to be an "anti-Franco" film and it attempts to criticize the regime in a satirical way that does really look like satire, just boring confusion.
br /
br /The husband is a character that is highly annoying and overbearing, he whines and slobbers all over the place because he is being dehumanized by so-called 'barbarians'. Carmen is just a cheap floozey who flounces her breasts, her breasts were shown once and every man in the film either touched or wanted to grope them. Silly. The troupe is made to perform in front of the Nationalists and it is one of the most boring endurances ever. Carmela shouts out against tryanny in a scene that looks like an exaggerated "Julius Cesear" and she signals the death of the Republic. How are we, the intelligent audience supposed to believe that such a bunch of selfish, pestering middle class nit wits were out for Democracy in the first place? Thing is, we can't and that is the problem with this film, we don't have reason to believe anything it tells us.
br /
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
|
|
|
