Mondays in the Sun (2002) User Reviews

the essence of so many sad lives

[dominik96 · 8/10 · 28 November 2005]

How do you imagine the life of an unemployed without family, possession or future? Dull is certainly one of the answers, but this movie does the utmost of this basic story! It's a great achievement to tell something so boring without becoming itself dull and boring. At some points it is even funny and every minute is well done. Really intelligent script with great actors. Especially the actor of Santos! By far the best way to get a glimpse of a life nobody wants to have. It isn't a movie for everybody, because it isn't an easy popcorn movie. The presence of your mind is required but you will be certainly rewarded with an insight that you'll hopefully never experience.

A hard time we had of it, just the worst time

[khatcher-2 · 8/10 · 23 December 2002]

February, 2001 says the calendar inside the wharf-side bar; Rico splashes out the drinks and his precocious 15 year-old daughter Nata (Aïda Folch) looks on, absorbing the intensity of fiery language: her father's customers are unemployed boat-yard workers, drifters over forty, approaching fifty.

Fernando León de Aranoa, basing himself on the real lay-offs which happened in the boatyards of Gijón (Asturias) ten years earlier, and indeed using footage from newsreports, reconstructed his own story and transferred the proceedings to Vigo (Galicia) in the extreme north-west of Spain. The resulting `Los Lunes al Sol' is a social document portraiting a few men `on the dole' and their sombre outlook, however not lacking in sparkling humour and witty dialogues.

The year 2002 will be remembered as the year of `Hable con Ella' (qv) and `Los Lunes al Sol', a year in which mostly men take first place on the screen, moving the ladies to one side. Heroically, considering Spanish masculine mentality, there is no macho-building exercise in force in either of these two excellent films. The two films have competed head-on at the San Sebastián film festival, as well as in the Spanish Film Academy to be chosen to represent Spain for the Oscars, and so on, and have come out more or less level. If my personal preference is Almodóvar's superb dramatical piece, this in no way deflects from `Lunes al Sol', a magnificent sociological drama which even manages to creep in to certain foibles and other typicalisations without any cheapening effect which would have been detrimental to the telling of the story.

Javier Bardem is superb and magnificently backed up by Luis Tosar and José Angel Egido, and there are no superlatives for Celso Bugallo's lesser but extremely important part as Amador. Joaquín Climent as the bar-owner Rico is absolutely correct, and the Russian Serge Riaboukine is spot on. And the ladies ……….? Well, definitely in secondary roles, but Nieve de Medina as the suffering wife – Ana – working in the sea-food canning plant gives a resounding interpretation, and Laura Domínguez as Angela is fine. But all eyes are fascinated by fifteen year old Aïda Folch as the precocious daughter, who observes all and learns from it, and applies her own methods to reach her own goals. She gets a baby-sitting job, hires `Santa' to do the job for her, so that he pockets 3,000 pesetas (about $20), she keeps 2.000 pesetas as commissions, and hops off to seek out her boyfriend. In her other film, `El Embrujo de Shanghai' (qv), alongside Fernando Tielve, directed by Fernando Trueba, we see she has that natural coquettish way which is going to take her very very far in the world of cinematography. I only hope she stays in Spain to do so, she keeps her beautiful little head well and truly planted on her shoulders, and does not suddenly disappear over the other side of the Atlantic, as so often happens to our prodigies.

You come away from this film feeling that you have barely ever seen a team pull so hard together to make the result work: the film has a significant message to transmit and it had to do so through skillfully worked characteriology driven by dialogues that shift from the retrospective to the witty, through scenes that move from outright funny to downright sad. It works: the Spanish public identify with these `real' characters and natural language replete with non-dictionary spicey terms, as these men live out their empty, frustrating life of unemployment.

Excellent work here by the young director Fernando León de Aranoa: I shall be looking forward to seeing more of his films, and no doubt I shall acquire the video of `Los Lunes al Sol' as soon as it is in the shops.

A Bitter and Sad Worldwide Contemporary Story, With Magnificent Performances

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 2 November 2005]

In an industrial city in Spain, five unemployed middle-aged friends daily meet in a bar, whose owner was also a former employee of the local shipyard, for drinking and small talk. Santa (Javier Barden) is their rebel leader, who dreams to move to Australia, and is being sued by the owner of the shipyard for breaking a 8,000 pesetas light. The insecure José (Luis Tosar) feels inferiority complex of his wife Ana (Nieve the Medina), who is supporting their home with a temporary work in a tuna can factory. Paulino (José Ángel Egido) is permanently trying to find a job through unsuccessful applications. The Russian Serguei (Serge Riaboukine) studied in Soviet Union to be an astronaut and seems to accept his life status. The depressed Amador (Celso Bugallo) misses his wife, who left him some time ago. For all of them, each jobless idle day looks like a Sunday.

"Los Lunes al Sol" is a bitter and sad worldwide contemporary story, with magnificent performances. I am marine engineer and Rio de Janeiro is the greatest Brazilian pole of naval construction. In the 80's and 90's, I saw many people of this sector, including friends and colleagues, losing their jobs and many of them changing their professions with the crisis in this sector. This type of situation happened in many other economical sectors, and Brazil has presently about a ten percent unemployment rate. I feel very sorrow for those who lost their jobs, and the large number of street vendors and slums in my hometown, associated to very low wages, reflect our present situation. The universe of Santa and his friends may be extended too to many other countries and sectors of the economy, therefore it is very easy to sympathize and understand the drama of the characters. This impressive film is also very well directed and watching it is a worthwhile experience, mainly for the younger generations. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Segunda-Feira ao Sol" ("Monday in the Sun")

Excellent

[pi4630 · 10/10 · 31 May 2007]

Two movies, one topic. I have watched "The pursuit of happiness" first and "Los lunes al sol" (http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0319769/) a couple of days later. Both movies have the same rating on IMDb.com and this is frankly not the case. "The pursuit of happiness" is a remix of the "one in a million" idea: one guy against all odds, facing the worst situation, makes it. I know this is a true story, but the story of *just one* who "makes it" (which can be compared to a lottery win - because how *many* people are out there trying?) may lead to the illusion that - as long as you "want" - you *can* make it. Sort of "hang on" movie. "Los lunes al sol" instead shows you what happens to the rest - to the non - Chris Gardeners of this world and is much more realistic. The fact that "The pursuit of happiness" was nominated for an Oscar confirms that we are encouraged to watch movies which consider the fate of one, not of manys. Absurd. "Los lunes al sol" is a must see.

Poignant and Realistic

[Nick_Dets · 9 November 2004]

No film has ever captured the depression and delight of the ordinary working man as realistically as "Mondays in the Sun". Watching it brought me back to the gray days of growing up when I would see my father's tired face and wonder what joy he can possibly be getting that pulls him through the pressure filled, cold and seemingly endless cycle of working hard day in, day out.

Javier Bardem plays the not-ever-to-be-defeated Santa, a strong-willed, but down on his luck guy who just got laid off from a comfortable job at a shipyard. He takes refuge in a buddy's bar with all his friends/co-workers who share the same misfortune. On top of all the problems anchoring him down, Santa must pay a hefty fine for destroying a light by the shipyard. For one week, he tries to run from these injustices and bothers, and he sojourns with his dreams.

What director Fernando Leon de Aranoa understands is that no matter how much joy we can have in a given amount of time, there is always the weight of work and responsibility to come back to. In the dreary life of the working man, things gets so routine that the magic of being young and having dreams is lost and gone forever. Aranoa's characters are all faced with the joy and bad luck of being unemployed. In this short time of pressure and paradise, they find escape and salvation in what seems like a limbo of meaninglessness. One of the film's best characters is a surreal, random friend of someone in the group who claims he was once an astronaut. By looking into his starry eyes, it is easy for the viewer to understand that this group of people have all found release in dreaming about getting to leave the earth as well.

It may not amount to the world, but I loved "Mondays in the Sun" because it knows the ordinary joys and pains of those struggling in the lower or middle class. What is truly beautiful about this film is how all of the characters seem at their most desperate, but somehow there is the assurance that maybe the light is not out forever.

(3 out of 4)

A sensitive and compelling movie, wonderfully acted and pictured

[Danherb · 10/10 · 6 June 2005]

It is really a pity that such a wonderful, compelling and important film, isn't able to get through to a bigger audience. But however.

"Los lunes al sol" is very calm and slow but all the more empathetic, touching and above all compelling.

The film shows the dull everyday life of a group of jobless deckhands, who try to get their lives back under control. One of them gets goes to job interviews almost every day, but gets refusal after refusal, because is too old. Another one has familial troubles because of his dismissal and another one drowns his frustration in regular boozing.

Despite the obvious socio-critical message of it, the film doesn't get polarizing or hostile to capitalism at any time, thanks to the terrific performances of all actors (above all Javier Bardem), and the sensitive script that particularly emphasizes the character's conflicts and their dealing with their situations. The note of the film is not a very political or even cynical one, it is very tranquil and melancholic. The actual brilliance of the film consists in the awesomely empathetic portrayal of the feelings of the jobless persons, that have to get used to the situation, that they are the scum of society from now on.

The beautiful soundtrack and the excellent editing and cinematography add to the sad but at times also hopeful atmosphere.

It's actually a great pity that no other film before has dealt with such an important issue that affects almost everybody's everyday life today.

Michael Moore could learn a lesson from Fernando León de Aranoa of how to combine social criticism and the affected person's fates. I wish there could be more films like this, that let you leave the theater with a comfortable feeling, but that give a thought provoking impulse at the same time.

Ken Loach Spanish Style

[Rindiana · 7/10 · 20 December 2009]

Just like most of Ken Loach's movies slightly obvious in its depiction of proletarian misery, but nonetheless touching and gritty working-class cinema with a fine ensemble cast and a good eye for telling details.

There's a feeling of been-there-seen-that to the proceedings, but the narrative flows naturally and lots of insightful little vignettes and an air of human kindness ensure two hours of viewing pleasure beyond the common escapism.

Bardem's great as usual!

7 out of 10 unorthodox bedtime readings

A realistic movie and at the same time outstanding

[finitodistampare · 10/10 · 8 March 2006]

I give this movie 10 points . The director Fernando de Aranoa investigated and talked with the unemployed people he will later portrayed in his movie. I mean the stories he's telling are for real. The performances by all the actors are magical . Bardem , of course, but all the cast is at the same level . The dialogues are so well written , never sound contrived . One thing it's clear , this movie don't leave you untouched. Fortunately Fernando de Aranoa is always improving as his latest movie "Princesas " shows . Don't miss "Los lunes al sol " it will be worth your time to watch the cast's performance .This movie won several Goyas ( Spanish academy awards ) Very moving picture

Social realism Spanish style

[j_o_n_n_24 · 6/10 · 11 June 2007]

Los lunes al sol follows the lives of a group of Galician ship builders who have been made redundant. Fernando de Leon, the director, has commented in interviews that Brit-grit director Ken Loach is among his biggest influences. In its focus on a world of brooding, inarticulate males whose wives are the breadwinners, the film certainly suggests parallels with English films such as Riff-Raff, The Full Monty and Brassed Off. As in these films, unemployed men struggle in reconciling traditional masculinity with a post-industrial society which no longer values their skills.

As usual, Leon elicits some great performances from his actors: a paunched Javier Bardem is fantastic as the sardonic womaniser, Santa; Luis Tosar is convincingly intense as his buddy José. While Santa hurls bricks at a streetlight in protest, Tosar observes his lot with a quiet, uncomprehending desperation. As in his other films Barrio and Princesas, however, Leon's improvised, episodic approach to film-making ultimately backfires: loose and meandering, the film too often loses its focus. Also, certain sequences lapse into a sentimentality which undercuts Leon's commitment to realism. This is compounded by the unfortunate choice soundtrack: limp and sugary, it lends it the feel of an overlong soap opera. Take My Eyes (Iciar Bollaín) is a much more controlled and subtle handling of Spanish social realism.

Masterfully masculine

[=G= · 8/10 · 19 November 2003]

"Mondays in the Sun" speaks boldly, loudly, and honestly albeit narrowly about the plaintive existence of a group jobless Spanish shipyard workers. What this study of working class men lacks in depth of story it makes up for in depth of character as it moves methodically through bitter, sweet, poignant, and humorous moments with sincerity, honesty, and drenched in masculinity. With high marks from public and critical corners alike, "Mondays in the Sun" will be time well spent for most. (B+)

The sad and enjoyable story of people who worked in a dockyard but are now unemployed.

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 4 February 2024]

This is the story of those who live as if every day was a constant Sunday, those who spend their Mondays in the sun. Engaging and agreeable movie that pays tribute to the unemployment people suffering a lot of misadventures, misfortunes and distresses. Fun, amusing and touching flick about losers trying to live and find a decent job. This is an interesting 'Dramedy': drama with brief touches of comedy, more in less than 113 minutes of length and yet with an air of naturalness and credibility; though essentially predominates drama more than comedy. In a northern coastal city, where a long time ago people turned their backs on the countryside and surrounded themselves with industry, some unemployed, former shipyard workers talk about their things and laugh about everything and nothing in particular. The setting is city of Vigo (Galicia) and surroundings, home of a massive industry and jobs aplenty. However, today with the industry in decline and with a lot of deadly accidents the worthy works have been closed down, there is widespread unemployment, strikes and despair. It tells the story of a group of unemployment mature men tiring for the social and economical crisis. José (Luis Tosar) is married to Ana (Nieve de Medina), who works at a cannery and tires of being the breadwinner. Rico (Joaquín Climent) has his bar and a beautiful 15-year-old daughter (Aida Folch), Reina (Enrique Villén) has become a watchman and a moralizer, Lino fills out job applications, Amador (Celso Bugallo) drinks heavily and talks of his wife's return. One dyes his hair and consigns himself to the hamster wheel of job interview rejections, one stays home and seethes at his working wife, one has ploughed his savings into a bar where his friends loll around drowing their sorrows on the tab. Santa (a great, bear-like acting from Javier Bardem) is the leader , and when not entertaining prostitutes or reading his dreams of Australia in the stain on his ceiling, rails at length and impotently against the unseen forces of their undoing. This film is not based on a real story, it is based on thousands !.

This entertaining film knows very well inter-cross these two genres, drama with brief touches of comedy, although the most comfortable note in the attractive drama. Including a sour denounce about injustices , regarding unemployment, exploitation , and industrial lockout. It is presented as a comedy , but it does have some very moving moments, as it shows the despair , desolation of unemployment and factory lockout. Taking its characters' pulse more perspicuously than it does their situation, the movie joins them, ambling around in grim, funny ever-decreasing circles. And it subtly displays the economic conditions of Aznar/Zapatero's Spain, where entire industries were shut down , taking jobs and local economies along with them. The picture relies heavily on the relationship among the main characters , acting from Bardem anchors this dolorous portrait of laid-off middle-aged Spanish dock-workers in the northern town of Vigo, he's Santa, the group's conscience and troublemaker, occasionally fantasizes about Australia struggling (like their counterparts in the Full Monty, but less bare-facedly) with the emasculating and immobilising effects of unemployment, though some of the sub-plots needed more fleshing out. Yet the laughs are sprinkled throughout nicely , and even though each man has their own personal fears to overcome, they find strength in each other, which makes the experience all the more fruitful .

It's fun, but no less likable, though some infinite sadness follows the film at times, including a touching finale. The film moves in fits and starts most of which would be desirable, with more traps the viewer resists any kind, and some moments of enjoyment and others quite a few disconcerting. This is a pleasant flick that contains humor , entertainment and amusement as well as thought-provoking issues . The film gives a nice character studio of a desperate ex-workers well played by top-drawer actors . Among the choral cast of this story, which approaches the drama of unemployment with a half smile, the resounding interpretations stand out Javier Bardem, Luis Tosar, José Ángel Egido, accompanied by other more secondary ones, giving phenomenal acting , such as : Nieve de Medina, Enrique Villén, Celso Bugallo , Joaquín Climent, Aida Folch, Laura Dominguez, Pepo Oliva and Fernando Tejero.

Los lunes al sol (2002) is Fernando León's third feature film was the most awarded film of the Spanish cinema in 2002, recognized at the San Sebastian Festival with the golden shell and the Fipresci critics' award and great winner of the Goya. With awards for the film, the director and its three main actors. Was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 75th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. The motion picture was well directed by Fernando León Aranoa. This Spanish writer and filmmaker Fernando León De Aranoa was born on May 26, 1968 in Madrid, where he usually shoots his films. Fernando began working in cinema in the 90s, shooting short films and writing scripts, and has made some films, usually dramas. He is a good writer and director, known for Familia (1996), Princesas (2005), Barrio (1998), Amador (2010), Sabina (2011) and Un dia perfecto (2015) being winner of the 2016 Goya for best adapted script, Feroz Awards Best Director Fernando León de Aranoa and premiered successfully at the international audiences and his best film Los Lunes al Sol (2002). Rating: 7/10.

Slice of life

[Dockelektro · 8/10 · 26 April 2003]

Social matters are always a juicy source for screenplays. And unemployment is a theme not new to the movies that deal with actual situations. Here, the hard spanish reality of men with no jobs is at hand, but instead of giving a rough depiction of people struggling for life, the director opts for a more soft approach, and wisely does so, since the movie would be too much of a punch in the stomach. Javier Bardem leads the ensemble cast, but don't let his notoriety fool you - although he is a commanding figure (and also a much needed source of comic relief) the other actors are also a must, and the film finds the best everyday men in these artists, who impersonate such a wide spectrum of people that you'll always find a reason to identify yourself with them. Always rough but tender, always touching but funny, always real but full of dreams, its message is clear - the facts that happen throughout this picture are only a small sample of an overwhelming reality. Thus, two thumbs up.

Proud but flawed

[pandabat · 6/10 · 13 July 2005]

This is the story of a group of former workers in a Spanish ship-building company and it has a gritty, realistic feel which doesn't necessarily make it great. Yes, it has it's funny moments and yes, it does capture the ennui and the growing hopelessness and impotence that unemployment, especially long-term unemployment, brings to the jobless, as well as the strains and stresses that it puts on those around them but it's all a bit too bleak and imagines itself to have a deeper running emotional relationship with the audience than is actually there. Perhaps something is lost in the translation in the English subtitles but for me this film was, a bit like Withnail & I, more a set of scenes than a whole, coherent movie and it lacks the same appeal. In ways, it is as much a story about growing older as it is about unemployment. I did feel that the characters weren't very fleshed out. We have very little of their past to go on and very little to say why they are the way they are. Maybe it's because the film is trying to play on it's own 'Siamese twin' metaphor and that it is a multi-faceted character which is the sum of all the characters' parts that we are supposed to look at, that the pride, the doubt, the anger, the quiet desperation and the persistence of spirit are in every one of these people and that if one falls, they all fall. It's possible that's what the makers went for but it's weak and tenuous in it's implementation and the metaphor is more for reference to the failure of the union strikes which preceded the end of their days in the shipyard. I'm quite a fan of foreign language films and Javier Bardem's last movie 'The Sea Inside' was one of the best that I've seen recently. However, this offering really didn't do much for me. Like I always seem to comment these days, the acting in the movie was excellently played but due to their lack of depth, these were more types than characters. If 'The Full Monty' was a light-hearted look at hope, inspiration and the pursuit of happiness and folly against a backdrop of unemployment then this is quite the opposite. This is more a look at the prison and the inmates of unemployment and in this movie, there are no great escapes!

Any relation with reality is a pure coincidence

[joseanx · 2/10 · 15 July 2003]

A romanticised and thoroughly false vision of unemployment from a middle class "artist" with a comfortable upbringing... It is clear that the writer-director never suffered unemployment directly and certainly has no personal experience of it. If you had to believe this absolutely ridiculous story, unemployed men of all ages behave like teenagers, have no anger, no fear, no frustration, etc. All the characters live trough the day by carrying pranks, boyish jokes. They do never look for work, the do almost never experience rejection or anguish, etc. Living on the dole is just about like a summer vacation from school... Ridiculous. Specially if you compare it with contemporary masterpieces from the likes of Ken Loach, etc.

an impressive movie...

[mimds · 6 March 2004]

I watch 'Mondays in the sun' last night and it impressed me really... Sorry guys but I usually prefer European-especially Mediterranean ones- movies much more than Hollywood productions... Like some of the others, there is a simple story there but very sincere and sensitive, that makes you feel deep inside...After watching any movie, I would like to feel the taste for some days...Sometimes you can easily forget what you have watched in several hours, but those kind of movies makes me feel something warm deep inside even it's dramatic athmosphere... Also the soundtrack is wonderful... For me it is a five-star production... Thanks so much for all who made it... (A+)

Wonderful!¡The masterpiece of the unemployed people

[Josh20 · 10/10 · 13 October 2002]

I think this is the best Aranoa's film and the best film about unemployed people.The film contains a likely marxims that i never saw in other spanish recent movie.Each character is interesting and have their own problems.Javier Bardem is,as always,excellent in his role.The script is perfect and this is one of the few movies that make you think about the world we live on.If you wanna see a good movie that make you laugh and make you cry with a great script and interesting characters,this is your movie.

lovely

[kaitana · 10/10 · 6 January 2003]

certainly one of the best films I've seen lately. Every single character is so simple, but at the same time so well performed by the actors and actresses, specially by Javier Bardem. It's a sad story but however with some laughter in it, and it really shows what it is like to live in Spain today, without a job, and without an opportunity to get it either.

Suntanned and unhappy

[jotix100 · 6/10 · 4 May 2004]

The Spanish film committee that chose this film over Pedro Almodovar's "Talk to her" to represent that country in the best foreign film at the Oscars, made a terrible a blunder. The rest is history: Hollywood preferred to honor the wronged man, and no one ever heard about this movie. It didn't get a commercial run in the United States, as far as I'm concerned, because it is a film that outside Spain has no great appeal.

This film reminded me of a day at "Cheers", the Boston bar where the TV series took place, but without one iota of humor. The atmosphere is so bleak that it depresses the viewer as this heavy tale the director, together with his screen writer, decides to present us about unemployment in Northern Spain. There is such a gloom in this film as in no other film in recent memory. A lighter tone would have greatly improved this static film.

The film, as directed by Fernando Leon, shows not a ray of hope for these idled workers who spend their days at the bar where they are able to get drinks on credit while they wait for better days. This bunch prefer to stay in a state of limbo rather than going away from the area where unemployment is rampant. They all complain how about the Koreans are making better and cheaper ships while having their drinks and seeing the world passing them by without even the least amount of worry about what tomorrow would bring. On top of that, the film feels false from beginning to end.

Javier Bardem, with his rugged face, is the leader of this pack. His Santa is a man with a lot of pain and resentment, yet he prefers to bask in the sun rather than going to work and stop feeling sorry for himself. Luis Tosar is Jose who has his own demons to deal with. He is a coward who feels threatened by a wife who has her feet on the ground. Jose Angel Egido and Nieve de Medina are good in their roles.

This movie is a painful reminder of what is wrong with the film industry in Spain, as well as other European countries that had seen better times. Everyone is ready to denounce Hollywood and the American film industry as the culprit for their decline. But just think about planning a Saturday night dinner and going to the movies for a relaxing time, if the selection was "Monday in the Sun", please prepare the Alka-Seltzer for the indigestion afterward!

We hope director Leon lightens up for his next opus.

León de Aranoa is among the greatest

[Txerra-Larrea · 9/10 · 2 October 2002]

Excellent film that has been awarded with La Concha de Oro in the San Sebastián Film Festival. That prize was fully deserved because it's one of the best films made this year. Fernando León de Aranoa, its director, is a young filmmaker who, alongside Amenábar, Urquizu or Balagueró, is changing the Spanish Cinema that has been plagued with boring films on the civil war and stupid comedies with the sex as onli motto. The above mentioned fellows are fresh air for this industry. León de Aranoa was reckoned as a promising director after his first work,"Familia", but with "Barrio" and "Los Lunes al Sol" he demonstrates that he's already one of the most talented artists. The film is the story of a group of unemployed who have suffered the shutdown of the dockyard where they used to work. They are in their forties and living an almost hopeless situation. They've seen how his entire world has vanished, they wonder if the future will come to save their lives which seem to be like sinking ships and the friendship and togetherness are the only lifeboats they know. This work reminds me the Ken Loach's films, but the British director's movies scream, to say, because they're very combative and somehow obvious whereas León de Aranoa's one uses a low voice, it's very subtle but highly effective as you can feel the horror of the situation. Not all the credit is to the director, the actors are absolutely outstanding with Javier Bardem as the leader and alma mater of this extraordinary cast. Bardem plays "Santa", a man who struggles to keep on dreaming and hoping without losing his principles and maintaining the group together. Located in the industrial northern Spain, once a prosperous area, nowadays a declining and gloomy one, it's an example of the today's Spain which according to president Aznar is OK (España va bien, he said) and it's truth that the rich people are getting richer and richer but what about the working class? This film is a needed one to learn the lesson and to make people know what's going on, because you might be the next one.

Nice ideas, but too long

[Saruman-1 · 7/10 · 22 June 2004]

Almost nothing happens in this film, which is an important part of the message, which is after all about the boring life of the unemployed. There is comedy (especially Javier Bardem as the rebellious, witty Santa does his best in this department), there is drama, but the few really good ideas in this film are drawn out over too long a time. This works to the film's detriment, creating a plodding, slow, experience where a piece of about two thirds its length would have been interesting. Again, I do realize that the slowness is trying to be part of its message; still, adding scene after scene of essentially the same troubles of an unemployed life was not a good idea in my opinion.

Excellent movie

[rsnunez · 9/10 · 14 January 2005]

The movie is well done. Bardem plays nicely his role. And the rest of the cast is superb. It is a good exploration of the plight of workers in European inner-cities (although it could be set in any city in Ohio)after the deindustrialization of these areas. Good to understand male's attitudes to the loss of blue-collar jobs, and the female's take on their desperation. It is Spain's answer to the Full Monty. But be advised, with the exception of a few dark jokes Bardem is able to crack and his flirts with two of the characters, the movie is sad and blue, characters live in desperate situations with little or not hope to get out, even if at the end there is a thin ray of hope for one of the families involved, so there is no trace of The Full Monty's festive take on the plight of workers.

Serious drama, remarkably static

[bandw · 6/10 · 14 March 2007]

This movie tells the stories of several men a couple of years after they were let go from a Spanish shipyard when it closed. The serious tone of the movie is set in the opening documentary-style scenes where shipyard workers are battling the police. So, this movie is clearly not offered simply as an entertainment. Given that, I asked what we are supposed to get out of having sat through this.

One point made is how difficult it is for skilled, middle-aged men to lose their jobs. One man takes a job as a security guard, another opens a bar (where a lot of the movie takes place), another hopelessly pursues getting a job in an environment where the jobs are going to younger men with more salable skills, another suffers with his sense of loss of manhood with his wife working in a tuna canning factory, another loses his wife and becomes an alcoholic. Then there is Santa (Javier Bardem) who has a complex of reactions: anomie, defiance, pride, cynicism, detached amusement, philosophical musings, and prankishness. He is a strong presence among his cadre of friends who meet regularly at the bar. The job situation has put all of the men under stress and their interactions are not always friendly, but they have bonded in the face of adversity.

I have seen Bardem in three movies (additionally "Before Night Falls" and "The Sea Inside") and in each he has created a unique character. He is one of those superior actors who can make you believe he is his character rather than an actor playing a role. All the actors turn in fine performances here. The musical score sets a tone of sweet sadness. There are touches of humor, also touched with melancholy, like when the friends are watching a soccer game from having been let in to free seats high above the arena, but have their view of the end zone obstructed by a canopy.

I was left with wanting to know more about the welfare system in Spain and the extent of unemployment there. The jobless men had fallen on hard times and it was not always clear to me how they were making it. Santa was a skilled welder with a forceful personality - surely there would be a job for such a person. Was the bond with his friends preventing him from being more proactive in his job search?

It is hard to find fault with this production, but the downbeat mood of the characters rubbed off and remains my lasting impression. The plight of the workers is established early on and then neither the people nor the situation change; that does not make for engaging drama.

The surprise of the year

[Andreas-S · 10/10 · 31 December 2003]

At first I suppose I just liked the title. I didn't know a thing about this movie. At the end, I was fascinated. If you're after an adrenaline-squeezing plot, you'd better pass. It's just about the life of a few unemployed friends.It's just about life, filled with a discreet sense of humour and sensibility. I'd probably say it's my favorite movie of the year. Just as in the fairy tales of childhood, the surprise came from the unknown.

The Spanish Unemployed -- sad but not compelling

[ph0hunter · 6/10 · 19 September 2003]

My expectations for this movie were too high, I think, because I love Spanish movies as a rule. I was looking for a new perspective, new insights into the experience of unemployment and was disappointed. The first half held my interest as characters are introduced, established, and their situations shown. After that, I got bored because I've seen this all before. I guess one could say, then, that the experience of unemployment tends to be the same no matter what country one is in -- frustration, despair, rage, impact on families, etc. The actors did fine jobs and I have no quibbles with the direction. Javier Bardem is always interesting to watch. A qualified recommendation for anyone interested in him or the director.

unrealistically grim

[dutchtom1 · 3/10 · 24 March 2004]

Quentin Crisp once stated that when things are shown too beautifully, one is a romantic. When things are show unbearably grim, they are realistic. And when something gets the ironic treatment, they're spot on. Unfortunately for Leon de Aranoa, he falls into the second catagory. This director has obviously tried too hard to make a Spanish "Ken Loach" type movie, without being able to capture the comedy, and warmth between the characters, that elevate Loach movies from merely being 'depressing'. Los Lunes al Sol, is just that, only depressing. Things are unrealistically grim. The characters ultimate moments of misery all reach a climax at the same point, and if the glum story isn't enough, Aranoa washes the tale over with a visually grey and grimy colour palette. The films was ridiculously over-rated at the Goyas. A movie that shows empathy for the weaker citizens in society, in this case unemployed harbour workers, does not automatically make for a good movie, even though I would be the first to sympathize with the fates of these people. This movie only manages to make me grow disinterested in their fate. In 21st century Spain, unemployed people do not live like beggars, and the public transport ferries have decent restrooms, and it's hard to come across a bar with so few punters and such little happiness to be encountered in it. Leon de Aranoa obviously doesn't have a clue about working class Spain, and does it no favours. Pretentious is the only conclusion I can draw. The scene where the men watch a football match for free, has been directly copied from a film which deals much more 'realistically' with the subject of the 'poverty' trap, namely "Purely Belter," which is afar more engaging, humorous, and yet sad.