DVD Review - La Vida Que Te Espera (Your Next Life)

This is a seemingly simple tale that gets more complicated as the film goes on. The story takes place in Cantabria which is in northern Spain. This is a place that is isolated and where farmers known as pasiegos tend to their cattle and live in their own world. Rules imposed by the European Union penalize the farmers for producing more milk than is needed. Both Gildo (Juan Diego) and Severo (Celso Bugallo) are falling on hard times because of this. They are neighbors but they are also rivals. When Gildo goes to Severo's farm to retrieve his prize cow Vanessa Severo is very angry. Gildo promises Severo that he will get Vanessa's first calf.

A year has passed and we are introduced to Gildo's two daughters. His older daughter Val (Marta Etura) dropped out of school after her mother died so that she could help her father on the farm. Gildo's younger daughter Genia (Clara Lago) goes to school and wants no part of this type of life. The same is true of Severo's estranged son Rai (Luis Tosar) who has given up farm life to work as a hairdresser. As promised, Gildo sends over Vanessa's newborn calf to Severo. He wants Genia to bring the calf over to Severo but she doesn't want to because she has to go to school. Val rescues her and brings over the calf. Severo gets angry because he doesn't believe that the calf is the offspring of Vanessa. He ties Val up and locks her into a shed. Eventually Gildo goes to look for her and he and Severo have a confrontation in which Severo is killed. Val wants them to go to the police but Gildo says that they must not say anything. His philosophy is "what is unsaid is undone" and he truly seems to believe that.

Rai comes back to the community for his father's funeral and to settle up matters regarding the farm. Gildo wants Val to get to know Rai in order to see if he suspects anything. Val reluctantly goes to a dance where she knows Rai will be. There is an immediate attraction and much to Gildo's displeasure Val and Rai fall in love with each other. In the meantime Genia has a growing suspicion that her father killed Severo. When Rai disappears both sisters think that their father killed him as well. I will not say another word because the film takes some interesting twists and you will have to see it for yourself in order to find out what happens.

The film is nicely directed by Manuel Gutierrez Aragon. He co-wrote the intriguing screenplay with Angeles Gonzalez Sinde. All of the acting is very good and Diego and Etura are exceptional. The Spanish countryside is beautifully shot by cinematographer Gonzalo F. Berridi.

I understand that this film was shown at The Film Society of Lincoln Center's Spanish Cinema Now series at the end of 2004. That is one of the few places to see the many wonderful films that are being made in Spain. It is a real shame because these films are much more worthwhile than the over-budgeted spectacles that are coming out of Hollywood. In any case, if you want to see a good film that you won't see at your local multiplex check this one out.