A sentimental and timely film that has aged a little since the times of the Spanish Transition. The film opened, at the time, an unexplored field in our cinema: the recovery of a historic moment, the most immediate, which until then had been concealed or distorted, a fundamental period of time in the Spanish political transition. In 1977, Spain, the Communist Party was legalized during Holy Week, and a large May Day demonstration was held. During these months, a cynical radio host in his late 40s hosted a successful nighttime show. While ¨Asignatura pendiente¨ covers the period from October 1, 1975 to the beginning of the summer of 1976, historic dates in the evolution of our democracy, marked by the last days of Franco, as well as the appointment of the first government of the monarchy; this covers covers the immediate period after, the first democratic governments until the legalization of the Communist Party. At the beginning, the radio host José María (José Sacristán) receives the Carrusel award for his nighttime program: "Solos en la madrugada" (Alone in the Dawn), which has been successfully broadcast for two years on Union de Radio Española. Separated from Elena (Fiorella Faltoyano), he works alongside the faithful Elena (María Casanova, Garci's fetish actress) , who is secretly in love with him and has an affair with the attractive and liberal anthropologist Maite (Emma Cohen). Meanwhile, José Miguel is offered a lucrative job by his chief (Germán Cobos), a well-paid position at the BBC in London.
Garci's second feature film, following "Asignatura Pendiente," both of which were huge hits at the Spanish box office. In this film, he once again became a chronicler of the transition, combining humor, nostalgia, and remarks to Spanish society at the time. Continuing along the path taken in his films as a screenwriter, José Luís Garci achieves great success with his first feature film as a director, made in collaboration with Jose Maria González Sinde, which becomes a key work of the Spanish transition. Here, the dialogue and monologues take precedence over the action and are incisive, sharp, and intelligent.
It is a generational film, full of references, emotional, sad and funny, about the frustration of thirty-somethings who saw how their most logical desires, their will to live, had been frozen in an era in which freedom was not tolerated. It represented one of the greatest successes of the cinema of the transition and over the years, the film has become part of the popular heritage of modern Spain.
The film also serves as a tribute to the radio professionals of the time; in fact, they appear in small cameos: Bobby Deglané. José Luís Pecker and Alfonso Eduardo, about whom Garci himself made a documentary.
There is also a cinematic reference with some movie posters included in the film (just as Tarantino would usually do many years later) that include those of Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, Walerian Borowczyk's Story of a Sin, among others.
The film describes the complex stage of the political transition in order to create another product in the same vein as "Asignatura pendientes" (Pending Subject). It contains an overly sentimental story, not very convincing, with excessive dialogue, or rather monologues in which each of the characters tells their life story. On this occasion, the film aims to film the testimony of the generation born shortly after the Spanish Civil War, especially their frustrations, and underlines the message: "We must fight for what we believe in; we cannot spend another forty years talking about those forty years." At the end, a moving dedication: "This film is dedicated to the radio professionals who helped us so much live through the dark years."
The motion picture was compellingly directed by Jose Luis Garci who won one Academy Award for ¨Volver a Empezar¨. José Luis Garci is without a doubt one of the most influential film personalities in the history of film in Spain and perhaps the best known writer in the country. He often co-writes his scripts with his friend Horacio Valcárcel. Garci has left a distinguished talent in his successful movies throughout the years: La Cabina (1972), Las Verdes Praderas (1979), El Crack (1981), Volver a Empezar (1982), Canción De Cuna (1994), La Herida Luminosa (1997), El Abuelo (1998), Tiovivo c. 1950 (2004) and Ninette (2005) , among others. Rating : 6/10. Better than average and well worth seeing for Spanish fillm lovers. For these reasons is essential and indispensable watching .
