JOSE LUIS LOPEZ-LINARES

Bil’s rating (out of 5):   BBBB

Original title:  Retrato De Carlos Saura

Spain, 2004.  Zebra Producciones.  Screenplay by Agustin Sanchez Vidal.  Cinematography by Teo Delgado, Miguel Sales Lopes.  Produced by Jose Velasco.  Film Editing by Fidel Collados.  

This documentary triptych through the life and career of Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura is often more entertaining than many of his films. It details, in one fast-passing hour, the biography and filmography of an artist who grew up and was shaped by Francoist Spain, emerging from its heavily censored artistic arena (originally as a photographer) to become one of its most notable cinema artists. Friends and family contribute talking head sections to Saura’s own testimony, revealing a very interesting life that was more accurately depicted in his earlier, more political work than in the later period that becomes more interested in exploring national music genres of Spain (the irony of which, considering his childhood under Franco, is lost on the filmmakers). The film is definitely more interesting when it covers the earlier part of his journey, but it remains engaging throughout.