Themes: Down on Their Luck, Small-Town Life, Work Ethics
Main Cast: Javier Bardem, Luis Tosar, José Ángel Egido, Nieve De Medina, Tejada Enrique Villen
Release Year: 2002
Country: ES/IT/FR
Run Time: 115 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Set in the Spanish port city of Vigo, Fernando León de Aranoa's Mondays in the Sun is a touching drama about a group of working-class men who find themselves suddenly unemployed and unwanted in their middle age. Laid off from the local shipyard, the men spend their days at the town bar, where they reminisce, philosophize, and commiserate about their current state. Gruff Santa (a bearded Javier Bardem) puts up a tough front, refusing to sink into self-pity, and occasionally pricking his friends' hopes. Morose José (Luis Tosar) openly worries about his wife, whom he fears might leave him. That seems to have been the fate of Amador (Celso Bugallo), the oldest of the bunch, who keeps reassuring everyone that his wife will be back any day now from her trip. Meanwhile, Lino (José Ángel Egido) refuses to give up hope of employment, going to interview after interview for jobs being offered to applicants half his age. Presiding over the glum bunch is Rico (Joaquín Climent), the bar owner and the men's co-worker from the shipyard days. Despite its depressing subject and downbeat mood, Mondays in the Sun was a big winner at the 2003 Goya Awards, Spain's equivalent of the Oscars, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Bardem. The film was also Spain's surprise representative for the 2003 Oscars' Foreign Language film category, nabbing the distinction over Pedro Almodóvar's critically lauded Talk to Her. ~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide
Review
A melancholy wallow leavened by gallows humor and a wry spirit, Fernando Léon de Aranoa's Mondays in the Sun takes as its theme the emasculating effects of joblessness in the age of globalization. A group of middle-aged friends spend their listless days lounging in a bar in a Spanish port town, struggling with unemployment after the local shipping magnate leaves for cheaper shores. Recalling similarly themed movies such as The Full Monty and Time Out, Mondays in the Sun is less hopeful than the former and less haunting than the latter, but Léon's movie packs its own considerable punch. The occasional pandering touch aside, Léon manages to avoid bathos, sprinkling his movie with welcome bits of drollery. One night sees the men watching a soccer match from the roof of the stadium, their view of the goal hilariously obstructed; another night has them emptying the liquor cabinet of the family for which they're supposed to be baby-sitting. Holding it all together is the imposing presence of the brilliant Javier Bardem. Playing Santa, a grouchy, hard-bitten soul, Bardem embodies the gruff camaraderie that buoys the men's spirits and stands defiant against the global economy's heartless workings. The movie enshrines its subtext in a memorable joke shared by one of the men: "Everything we were told about communism proved to be a lie. Unfortunately, everything we were told about capitalism proved to be true." A plangent plea for solidarity, not to mention a screed against capitalism and its excesses, Mondays in the Sun is an assured and moving work from one of Spain's most promising filmmakers. ~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide
Julio Esteban - Art Director, Fernando León de Aranoa - Director, Nacho Ruiz Capillas - Editor, Lucio Godoy - Composer (Music Score), Alfredo Mayo - Cinematographer, Andrea Occhipinti - Producer, Elias Querejeta - Producer, Jerome Vidal - Producer, Jaume Roures - Producer, Pierre Lorrain - Sound/Sound Designer, Ignacio del Moral - Screenwriter, Fernando León de Aranoa - Screenwriter
The film depicts the degrading effects of unemployment on a group of men left jobless by the closure of the shipyards in a northern Spanish town: Santa (Bardem), the unofficial leader of the group; Lino (José Ángel Egido), an aging family man doggedly pursuing positions beyond his qualifications; Amador (Celso Bugallo), who has degenerated into alcoholism after being abandoned by his wife; Reina (Enrique Villén), who has managed to find a job as a security guard; and José (Luis Tosar), bitter that his wife is employed when he is not, and fearful that she will leave him for a co-worker. The men drink away their days in a bar owned by Rico (Joaquín Climent), himself a former shipbuilder.
This picture was chosen by the Real Academia de Cine Español as Spain's pick for the 2003 Academy Awards; however, in the end Pedro Almodovar's Hable con ella trumped Los lunes al sol to an award.
