UN POCO DE CHOCOLADE

Spain, 2008, 93 minutes, Colour.
Hector Alterio, Daniel Bruhl.
Directed by Aitzol Aramaio.

A light, very sweetly flavoured story of friendship.

An old man (Hector Alterio), cantankerous in his ways, goes home from hospital, to the relief of the staff, to the care of his sister. He is already mixing memories, moving easily back into his past as if it were the present. In the meantime, a young man (Daniel Bruehl) has come to Barcelona from the country and, finding the empty house, has squatted there. A young woman has seen him in the square and is attracted.

The old man and his sister accept the presence of the young man who shows himself concerned and attentive, caring for the old man (and preparing sushi which the old couple are to polite to tell him that they dislike). The old man glides in and out of memories of his long-dead wife and the scenes of their young days on the streetcars of the city.

Not all that much happens in terms of plot: meals at home, illness alarms, a picnic in the country, flashbacks of memories, the young man and woman in love and marrying. Rather, it is the atmosphere, of warmth and human kindness on the part of all the characters that make the film a pleasant experience. It is of interest to see as part of the career of Daniel Bruehl. (The American dubbed version is to be avoided – it makes it sound American slangy and a very badly performed soap.)

1.A slight Spanish confection? Characters? Situations? Magic realism?

2.The city setting, the hospital, the homes, the landmarks? Authentic feel? The musical score?

3.Lukas and his dying at the opening, his reminiscences, returning to his death at the end, the falling snow?

4.Lukas’s character, old, fighting in the war, his woodwork after the war, his love for Rosa, marriage? In the hospital, his reminiscences, Rosa present to him, his friends and Matteus, playing ball, the streetcar? Rosa on the streetcar? Her coming into his life, coming into the picnic lunch, the friends coming? The ghosts and memories of his past?

5.Lukas as cantankerous, the hospital wanting him home, Maria taking him home? Finding Marcos? Allowing him to stay, the music, the meal – but not wanting to eat the sushi? Maria and Lukas and their pretence? Relying on Marcos, his kindness, spending time with Lukas? Helping him when ill?

6.Marcos, coming to the city, begging, playing the accordion? The pervasive music? Roma seeing him, following him? Their meeting, falling in love? Marcos going to his parents, returning, with Roma, helping Lukas and Maria? The meals, the time spent together? The picnic, Marcos’s aunt? The gathering – the meal, the ghosts arriving? The dancing and the pairing?

7.The return home, Marcos and Roma marrying? A future? The parallel with Lukas and Rosa? Maria and her happiness with her brother?

8.The magic touches, the characters? The little bit of chocolate and Lukas’s final comment?