THE TEACHER WHO PROMISED THE SEA

THREE AND A HALF STARS Buried secrets from the Spanish Civil War are found when a woman searches for her family.

PERIOD DRAMA SPAIN Spanish #ELMAESTRO

Starring Enric Auquer, Laia Costa

There’s so much to like about this engrossing film that it’s easy to forgive some of its less whelming moments. Fortunately they all occur in the present (director Patricia Font tells her story across two timelines), with the past, set in the run up to Spain’s civil war, opening out some wonderfully inspiring scenes.

Despite the dark clouds of fascism looming near, Antonio Benaiges (Enric Augua), a new teacher in a small village, is determined to make a progressive mark on his students. Their families are, at first, nervous about his modern ways, egged on by a conservative mayor and the local priest. Yet the kids respond to his cheerful, even hand, more so when he promises them their first ever trip to the sea.

His methods include using a small printing press for the kids to ‘publish’ their stories, a concept deemed radical by authorities. It would have horrendous repercussions once the military come calling. Meanwhile in present day Barcelona, Ariadna (Laio Costa) is desperate to uncover what became of her great-grandfather before her ageing grandfather dies. The discovery of a mass grave leads her on a journey back to the ideological teacher’s village where some of his surviving students reveal a story they’ve long kept hidden.

Tying these threads together is a shared history that spans generations; one that includes the fallout of choices made under pressure, the sorrow that comes with shame and the potential to heal through reconciliation. Powerful stuff that, unfortunately, is tragically weakened in the contemporary setting by leaden delivery of a script that hammers home its points unnecessarily. Making matters worse is Ariadna’s inexplicably bad tempered behaviour. It’s  both peculiar and distracting.

Fortunately Antonio (as played by the dynamic Enric Auquer) is so engaging, so compelling and so utterly likeable that he helps us over any hurdles. It turns out that the real story of THE TEACHER WHO PROMISED THE SEA is told here and it’s an utterly riveting one. Font is on much stronger ground as she relates the tragedy that befalls idealism without recourse to the hammer she otherwise uses and the film soars in response. It's the extremely touching story about a man who promised the sea, and so much more.

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