LA MATERNAL: A FILM OF GREAT EMOTIONAL IMPACT
Maria Jose Aranzasti
The movie the motherly, premiered at the 71st edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival, it achieves an authenticity that is difficult to achieve in films in which emotions surface in abundance in the face of the problem of being mothers in adolescent girls, a problem that in Spain continues to be very important and that demonstrates that we continue with the lack of adequate sexual education at school and in the institute.
In the world, three out of ten adolescents get pregnant and more than 90%, as the statistics say, are unwanted pregnancies. The director of the film, Pilar Palomero, winner of 4 Goyas with the film the girls He moves between the realm of the documentary and makes a great film in which, once there is no option for the voluntary interruption of the pregnancy because the term has passed, these girls go to a shelter where they live together with other teenagers who are all in the same situation: an unwanted pregnancy.
The synopsis offered by the 71st San Sebastian Film Festival is the following: Carla is 14 years old and is a defiant and rebellious young woman. She lives in an old roadside diner on the outskirts of a town with her young single mother while she skips class and spends the hours with her friend Efrain of hers. When the social worker realizes that she is five months pregnant, Carla enters ‘La Maternal’, a center for underage mothers where she shares her daily life with other young women like her. Together with their babies, they will face this new world of adults for which they have not had time to prepare.
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At the press conference of the film made within the San Sebastian Film Festival All the young women participating in the film could be seen telling how hard it was to be a mother at such a young age, the difficulties and obstacles they had to overcome in order to grow and mature by leaps and bounds and forget how frowned upon it is by the majority. of society, being a mother so young. All of them underlined the importance that the film has meant for them, the satisfaction of knowing that they serve as a guideline for other girls with the same problem as them. One of them, also a teenage mother, stressed “I feel very proud to have made this film and when I was in the maternity center it was very hard, but there are accounts you can trust and tell them everything, without fear of being judged…”
All of them speak of their personal experience, of the painful journey they had to undertake. Pregnancy cuts short their childhood and adolescence and now, after the moment, there is now the memory of overcoming that has allowed them to move on. The film asks questions, does not judge, does not give answers and raises reflections on, not only adolescent pregnancy but also those who are victims of ill-treatment and abuse, who are part of nuclei of social exclusion, marginality, environments unstructured and with great economic precariousness.
One of the most intense and emotional moments of the film is precisely knowing the stories of these young adolescents, “feisty women, life partners and friends”, as described by the film’s protagonist, Carla Quilez, a first-time actress who achieved the Silver shell ex aequo, playing a character full of energy and vitality, full of many nuances. A film in which a bold and fascinating future actress has emerged who fills the screen, expands when she dances, sings and even with her prolonged silences that are also very moving.
“The scenes of the girls recounting their experiences were very moving scenes, affirms Pilar Palomero, because something very special was generated in the whole team and it was also one of the most emotional moments of my life to share and empathize with them. The whole team was excited, she adds, to get that special silence… for those moments, that’s why I want to make movies”.
Angela Cervantes, in her role as Penelope She plays the role of Carla’s mother with real success. She also got pregnant very young and history repeats itself with her daughter. All the characters except Carla and Ángela are not actors and by parading with their own stories and showing their vivid feelings, they manage to give the film an authenticity that is difficult to achieve on other occasions.
Another special moment in the motherly It happens when young Carla, already a mother, is desperate for her baby’s cries and confesses helplessly: “He doesn’t love me, he doesn’t love me… I’ve done everything, I’ve sung, I’ve danced, I’ve done everything, but he goes on and on crying…”
The film features a tribute to Bigas Luna. The roadside restaurant where it is filmed is the same one where it was filmed Ham Ham; the landscape, the soccer field is that of the Monegros.
Music is very important in the film, songs like your heat of Estopa that unite mother and daughter in the film and that of you stopped loving me by C.Tangana She is the singer the hungarian, Pilar Palomero says that she was also a mother at the age of fifteen and that she hid the pregnancy from her mother until she gave birth, the one who sings the Estopa song. “It had to be her, the one who closed the circle,” says Pilar, and sang the song your warmth”. Carla knows how to convey the passion of dance in several of the scenes of the film and expresses herself masterfully with dance. In a statement to El País, on January 20 of this year, Carla assured: “I started with ballet, I did contemporary, ballet with tap, contemporary again and now I am with urban and hip dance.” hop. Dancing is my escape route, if I’m anxious, I dance and it goes away. It never tires me.”
In short, the film places us before the issue of unwanted teenage pregnancy, about which there are preconceived ideas and which generally causes discomfort. And, above all, as we have previously commented, there is a lack of competent sexual education in schools and institutes that must be addressed urgently, given the crude and authentic approach to the reality of adolescent pregnancies.
Pilar Palomero studied Hispanic Philology at the University of Zaragoza, she studied Photography Direction at the ECAM Madrid Film School in 2013, after making various short films such as Noc (2015), The night of all things (2016) y Horta (2017) achieved with his first feature film the girls (2020) presented at the Málaga festival the Biznaga de Oro for best film, the 4 Goyas already mentioned: best film, best new director, best original screenplay and best cinematography. She is undoubtedly one of the most interesting emerging film directors on the national scene today.
At the Goya Awards in February this year, the film was nominated for best film, direction and supporting actress, which Angela Cervantes won. Carla Quilez could not opt for best actress because she was under 16 years of age; At the Gaudí Awards this year, both won the awards, Carla for Best New Actress, and Angela for Best Supporting Actress. A must see movie!