''The Bastards' Fig Tree'' ( es, La higuera de los bastardos, links=no) is a 2017 Spanish comedy-drama film directed by which stars

Karra Elejalde Carlos Elejalde Garay (born 10 October 1960) better known as Karra Elejalde, is a Spanish actor and occasional filmmaker. Biography Carlos Elejalde Garay was born on 10 October 1960 in Vitoria-Gasteiz. He developed his early acting career on i ...

, with

Carlos Areces Carlos Areces (born 27 March 1976) is a Spanish actor, singer, and comics artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from ...

, Pepa Aniorte, Mikel Losada, and Jordi Sánchez in supporting roles.

Plot

The plot starts in 1939, in the last rales of the War of Spain. Rogelio, a "trigger-happy" fascist, gives a second thought to his ways upon witnessing the hateful gaze of a boy whose parents have been killed by Rogelio. Rogelio thus becomes an

anchorite In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. While anchorites are ...

, deciding to take care of the

fig tree ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending int ...

the boy has planted on their parents' tomb.

Cast

Production

An adaptation of the novel ''La higuera'' by Ramiro Pinilla the screenplay was penned by Ana Murugarren. The film is a Blogmedia production. It was shot in 2016 in (

Getxo Getxo () is a town located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in Spain. It is part of Greater Bilbao, and has 77,946 inhabitants (2019). Getxo is mostly an affluent residential area, as well as being the ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

Release

The film premiered at the Vlissingen-based

Film by the Sea Film by the Sea is an annual film festival that takes place in Vlissingen, Netherlands, in September. Festival Film by the Sea was founded in 1999. The festival features both pre-premieres of major commercial films, and art house films that do ...

festival on 14 September 2017. Distributed by Festival Films, it was theatrically released in Spain on 24 November 2017.

Reception

Quim Casas of ''

El Periódico de Catalunya ''El Periódico de Catalunya'' (, ), also simply known as ''El Periódico'', is a morning daily newspaper based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The paper publishes separate daily editions in Spanish and in Catalan. The two editions combined sell ...

'' rated the film 1 out of 5 stars, writing that Elejalde Karra Elejalde does not know what to do with his character, whilst the same applies to Areces or Sánchez, "actors gifted for comedy but not for so much nonsense". Noel Murray of ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote that, "thin plot" and "distractingly jaunty score" notwithstanding, the film remains for the most part "a thought-provoking historical fairy tale about the values — and grudges — that survive whomever's in power". Nuria Vidal of ''

Fotogramas ''Fotogramas'' is Spanish digital and print film magazine which has been in circulation since 1946. It is one of the early film magazines in Spain. History Founded in Barcelona, it was first published on 15 November 1946 by Antonio Nadal-Rodó a ...

'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, deeming it to be "a film that moves between

esperpento Esperpento denotes a literary style in Spanish literature first established by Spanish author Ramón María del Valle-Inclán that uses distorted descriptions of reality in order to criticize society. Leading themes include death, the grotesque, an ...

, black comedy and

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...

", citing the meetings between Elejalde's and Areces' characters as the best thing about the film, while lamenting some "inevitable clichés". Javier Cazallas of ''

HobbyConsolas ''HobbyConsolas'' is a Spanish video game magazine founded in 1991 by Hobby Press and published by Axel Springer SE. The first issue appeared in October 1990. The monthly magazine offers information about games for all consoles, and since 2012 ha ...

'' rated the film with 78 points ("good") praising the evolution of Rogelio's character both from a personal and a physical standpoint, and the "good characterization of the different characters", while writing that the "story seems to be a bit lacking when it comes to an end" as a negative point. Sergio F. Pinilla of '' Cinemanía'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, pointing out that despite being short of the excellence of contiguous films such as or '' Black Bread'' or ''

Pan's Labyrinth ''Pan's Labyrinth'' ( es, El laberinto del fauno, lit=The Labyrinth of the Faun, links=no) is a 2006 dark fantasy horror film written, directed and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro. A Spanish-Mexican(78% Spanish production, 22% Mexican productio ...

'', the film features both Elejalde and Areces in a state of grace.

References