Πέδρο Αλμοδοβάρ «Καυτή σάρκα»

Μια δραματική κομεντί είναι η ταινία του Πέδρο Αλμοδοβάρ [Pedro Almodóvar] «Καυτή σάρκα» [Carne trémula]. Στη Μαδρίτη του 1970, μια πόρνη φέρνει στον κόσμο το γιο της Βίκτορ μέσα σ' ένα αστικό λεωφορείο. Είκοσι χρόνια αργότερα, ο Βίκτορ επισκέπτεται την Ελενα, την ηρωινομανή κόρη ενός Ιταλού διπλωμάτη, θέλοντας να τραβήξει την προσοχή της και να καταφέρει να αποσπάσει ένα ραντεβού. Εκείνη περιμένει τον ντίλερ της και γίνεται έξαλλη στη θέα του Βίκτορ. Ο Δαβίδ και ο αλκοολικός Σάντσο, δυο αστυνομικοί που περνούν έξω από το διαμέρισμα της Ελενα, ακούν τη φασαρία και επεμβαίνουν βίαια, με αποτέλεσμα να τραυματιστεί ο Δαβίδ και να μείνει παράλυτος. Ο Βίκτορ χωρίς να φταίει, οδηγείται στη φυλακή, όπου μετά από χρόνια πληροφορείται ότι η Ελενα σταμάτησε τα ναρκωτικά και παντρεύτηκε τον Δαβίδ.... Παίζουν: Λιμπέρτο Ραμπάλ, Χαβιέ Μπαρντέμ, Φραντσέσκα Νέρι, Ανχελα Μολίνα, Πενέλοπε Κρουζ, Χοσέ Σάντσο, Πιλάρ Μπαρντέμ (Παρασκευή, 30/5, ΕΤ-1, 00.15).

Director, screenwriter, composer and actor, PEDRO ALMODOVAR is the most celebrated Spanish director since Luis Bunuel and Carlos Saura. He was born in Calzada de Calatrava, La Mancha, Spain in 1951. His family emigrated to Extremadura when he was eight years old and there he studied the elementary and superior bacalaureate, with the Salesian and the Franciscana. His bad religious education only taught him to lose faith in God. Around that time, in Caceres, he started to go to the movies, compulsively.

At sixteen he moved to Madrid, alone, without his family and without any money, but with a very concrete project: to study and make films. It was impossible to enter the Official film School, as Franco had recently closed it. As he couldn't learn the language (the form) he decided to learn the content, and dedicated himself to living. It was the end of the sixties, and in spite of the dictatorship, Madrid was for a provincial adolescent the capital of culture and liberty.

He worked in multiple and sporadic jobs, but he couldn't afford to buy his first Super-8 camera until he took a "serious" job with the National Telephone Company. He worked there for twelve years as an administrative assistant. These years were in fact his real education. In the mornings, he was in touch with a social class that would not have gotten to know so well under other circumstances: the middle class Spanish family at the beginning of the age of consumerism. Their dramas and their miseries. Quite a gold mine, for a future story teller. In the afternoons and evenings, he wrote, loved, joined the independent theatre group "Los Gollardos," and made Super-8 movies. He wrote for several underground magazines. He wrote short stories, some of which were published. He was a member of the parodic punk-rock group "Almodovar and McNamara," etc. He was lucky that the opening of his first feature film coincides with the birth of democracy in Spain.

After a year and a half of difficult shooting in 16mm, he opened, in 1980, his first feature, "Pepi, Luci, Bom..." Since then, film has become his second nature. He writes and directs. And lives, enough at least to be able to invent stories which are alive. His films are shown all over the world.

Almodovar's subsequent films include "Labyrinth of Passion," "Dark Habits," "What Have I Done to Deserve This?," "Matador," "Law of Desire," "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" (which was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film, became 1989's highest grossing foreign film in North America and currently the most successful Spanish film ever), "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!," "High Heels" and "Kika." Almodovar is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Glauber Rocha Award for Best Director, Rio Film Festival, and L.A. Film Critics Association "New Generation" Award.