Mondays in the Sun

 

 

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Touching, sweet study of a group of unemployed middle aged men in Spain,
struggling to hold on to their dignity.

Yet another great performance by Javier Bardem at its center.

A little wordy and stagy, and the end is a touch sappy, but mostly
moving, gentle and real. A film that has stayed with me over time.

Touching, sweet study of a group of unemployed, middle-aged men in Spain,
struggling to hold on to their dignity

Yet another great performance by Javier Bardem at its center.

A little wordy and stagy, and the end is a touch sappy, but mostly
moving, gentle and real. A film that has stayed with me over time.

"Mondays in the Sun", directed by Fernando Le'n de Aranoa, is a movie where not much happens. Despite that, it is worthwhile seeing, and remembering...

Why?. Because it tells us the story of a group of friends, former workers in a shipyard, who were sacked from their jobs and are unemployed. The spectators will watch them look repeatedly and uselessly for a new job, and deal with being unemployed and old in a society where most jobs are for young people. As a result, viewers are likely to realize that having a job isn't only about earning money, but also part of who we are, to a certain extent. And in the case of most of these men, their identities are in need of a redefinition that gives their lives new meaning.

This story takes place in Spain, but it could have been set in many other places. "Mondays in the Sun" is a film about unemployment and friendship, and those are things that are everywhere. As such, you are highly unlikely to find the message of this movie irrelevant. Even if you have a job (and that is my case), you probably know that some people don't, and that they suffer the consequences of that lack.

It is pertinent to point out that this isn't a film that will make you laugh. It is somewhat gloomy at times, and the actors play well the roles of people on the edge, eager to strike out at whomever is near them. Santa (Javier Bardem) is specially impressive as a man who doesn't have a clue regarding what to do with himself now that he doesn't have a job.

Another of the characters of this story is Serguei (Serge Riaboukine), a former Russian astronaut who is in Spain looking for a job. Serguei tells the others a joke: "Two old party comrades meet and one says `All that we were told about communism was a lie'. The other says `Yes, but the worst thing is that all we were told about capitalism was true'. In that silly joke, said by chance, we can find the root of the problem that aflicts these men...

Truth to be told, "Mondays in the Sun" tells us what happens to those left behind by capitalism. Of course, capitalism is not always good, but all the other systems are even worse. However, that doesn't mean we can deny that our system has problems that must be solved. This movie gets that point across powerfully, and because of that I highly recommend it.

Belen Alcat

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2.0 out of 5 stars not exactly bright days
I'm baffled by all the glowing reviews of this terribly boring and almost pointless film. I rented this the other day and watched it with a few friends (one of whom has lived in... Read more

Published on Mar 12 2004 by Author Brian Wallace (Mind Tra...

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly great movie and A dark comedy indeed
I picked this movie out as I browsed the shelves at the local video store where I usually spend one hour each visit searching for a good film. Read more

Published on Feb 7 2004 by Mark J. Walters

5.0 out of 5 stars Yet another gem from Spain
MONDAYS IN THE SUN can be viewed as a bleak moratorium lived out by shipyard workers in a Spanish community who have been laid off thier jobs without apparent reason. Read more

Published on Dec 7 2003 by Grady Harp

4.0 out of 5 stars A reward only for patient cinema viewers
How can one one be entertained by a movie about the unglorious lives of four laid off shipyard employees in the grim setting of an economically depressed Spanish coastal city... Read more

Published on Sep 14 2003 by Govindan Nair

5.0 out of 5 stars social reality
I saw this movie in Barcelona, Spain in May 2003. It is so realistic. It portraits the lives of those without a job in Spain, but it also can reflect social reality in any... Read more

Published on Jun 13 2003 by Eliana Staten

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