The other locality : returns to the countryside in the recent Spanish cinema

Bibliogr. s. 40-41

The article concerns returns to rural theme which are characteristic for Spanish cinema of the last decade and can be understood as an expression of the search for a local identity. In many narrations is also present plot motif of the return, connected with stories of characters torn between affection for little homeland and desire or necessity of leaving it. Unlike previous films, images of the country are far removed from idealisation and folkloristic clichés, as well as from black legend about poverty and backwardness, while the specificity of autonomous communities is manifested in regional languages and landscapes. In many stories about local communities directors reveal boarder problems, like changing the character of agricultural areas or depopulation of villages, which applies especially to interior called empty Spain ("España vacía"). This realistic presentation contrasts with magical realism, which isn't result of the stranger's gaze but is connected with specificity of the countryside seen from the perspective of its inhabitants and directors who come from there.