Carmen

From a language learning point of view, there isn't much here. The dialogue may actually be less than in La Llorona and what there is falls neatly into three types, excerpts from the novel Carmen (we all know the story? From the opera, maybe? Man falls in love with a married woman, it goes badly, ... as it does here), quick stock phrases like "sueltame", "dejame en paz", "no te quiero", and then equally short phrases that I couldn't make heads or tails of. I have no idea how to grade the difficulty ... so I won't.

But this isn't a film to watch for the language, it's a film to watch for the culture: Paco de Lucia playing guitar, clapping, stomping a cane, Pepa Flores aka Marisol (one of the only actual actors in the film ... yet doesn't have a spoken line ...) singing to Paco's accompaniment, and all the dancing (it's 1983 so half the dancers are sporting leg warms pushed down to the ankles, which warms my calcified heart)! There were several other people given little solo moments that I didn't recognize but who are probably important people within that world.

In this play within a play, we are watching the rehearsals of a flamenco troop's production of Carmen, the dancing starts off slow and awkward during the early rehearsals but builds. Fairly early on, a rehearsal of the tobacco factory scene has the women seated around the edge of the room at tables rhythmically pounding on the table before a group of older, clearly real women rather than professional actors start singing in that strange, otherworldly way. I sat up straight and couldn't look away after that. I wasn't much of a fan of flamenco before this film, but I might be now.

There wasn't a lot of dialogue, so what. Sometimes what we're learning is the culture. And in that regard, this was a huge, unexpected thrill!