SEMPRE XONXA (A WOMAN FOREVER)
A film review by Nicholas Parrott
Copyright 1995 Nicholas Parrott
(Chano Pineiro, Galicia, 1990) Welsh International Film Festival, Arad Goch, Aberystwyth, 17/11/95
SEMPRE XONXA is the first feature film to come from Galicia (the north westerly Atlantic province of Spain). Set in the beautiful scenery of that area it tells the story of a relationship between one woman, Xonxa (Uxia Blanco) and two men, Pancho and Biratus (Miguel Insua and Xavier R Lourido). It is a story of love, honour and betrayal: a very familiar latin theme.
Yet it is not only a love story. It also explores ideas of cultural change and the conflict between the traditional and the modern. The village may be isolated from the rest of the world, but not immune from its influence. When Biratus returns from the Americas a self made millionaire he is easily able to accept the established order of things. But will his influence last?
Stealing the show is village ironsmith, **** (******) whose madcap inventions and visions animate village life as well as the movie, bringing a touch of magical realism to the film which will be familiar to fans of Gabriel Marquez. Although long (at almost two hours), it is an altogether enjoyable move, which presents a very different facet of Spanish film to the more familiar, and wholly urban, works of Pedro Almovadar. One of the highlights of the festival.
-- Nicholas Parrott
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