La Bola Negra – Film Review
Review by Frank L

Directors – Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo (widely known as Los Javis)
Writers – Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi, Alberto Conejero
Stars – Guitarricadelafuente, Lorenzo Zurzolo, Javier Butler

Spain and its history over the past hundred years are central to this epic film, which captivates throughout, notwithstanding its considerable running time of more than two and a half hours. It achieves this through three interwoven stories, set in 1932, 1937 and 2017, which are imaginatively woven into a cohesive whole as the narrative moves continuously between them.

The 1932 story concerns Carlos (Milo Quifes), a young man from a suitably respectable family whose application to join the exclusive ‘Casino’ club is rejected by its conservative membership. The apparent reason is his sexual orientation, as rumours circulate that he is homosexual. In 1937, Sebastian (Alvaro Lafuente Calvo, known as Guitarricadelafuente in his musical career), while playing his trumpet in a local village band, finds himself press-ganged into joining the pro-Franco forces following a mistaken aerial attack on the village by the Italian air force. His duty is to guard a wounded prisoner, Rafael (Miguel Bernardeau), who is confined to bed in a makeshift hospital. Rafael is an intriguing character, being both a footballer and an actor. As blood seeps through the heavy bandages around Rafael’s abdomen, Sebastian gradually becomes more than just his guard.

In 2017, Alberto is somewhat adrift in life, having failed as a playwright, and occupies himself with studying queer identities in the 1920s. He receives an unexpected bequest from his grandfather, a man he never knew. His already strained relationship with his mother, Teresa (Lola Dueñas), deteriorates further during a tempestuous lunch, when he tries to learn more about his grandfather. She is drinking heavily, and it emerges that his grandfather was a fascist who would have disapproved of Alberto’s sexual orientation. It is a magnificently acted confrontation.

Alberto travels to a remote region of Spain to discover more about his grandfather, and what he uncovers sheds light on his own life as a gay man in the twenty-first century. The inheritance connects him to Federico García Lorca in a surprising way, given that the poet was murdered by fascist forces in 1936.

Underlying each of these stories is a gay man who, to varying degrees, finds himself an outsider. How each responds to the circumstances in which he finds himself is a recurring theme, particularly against the backdrop of 1930s Spain, a period of extraordinary upheaval.

The acting throughout is first-rate, with notable cameo appearances from Glenn Close and Penélope Cruz. The cinematography is equally impressive. Los Javis have written and directed an epic story, told from a most unusual perspective and spanning almost a century. They have done so with considerable style. This is a film that deserves to be contemplated.