Blood in May () is a 2008 Spanish historical drama film directed by José Luis Garci and starring Quim Gutiérrez and Paula Echevarría. The plot is inspired on work by Benito Pérez Galdós and takes place around the events of 2 May 1808, when the people of Madrid rose up in rebellion against French occupation. The film was one of three films Spain submitted to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film was disappointing in terms of audience and critical reception.
Plot Set in 1808, the story follows young Madrid typesetter Gabriel Araceli and his orphan girlfriend Inés. Amidst the historic March 19 uprising against Manuel Godoy in Aranjuez, Gabriel visits Inés, leading her uncle Don Celestino to allow her to relocate to Madrid with relatives Don Mauro and Restituta.
Gabriel takes a job nearby and, aided by Juan de Dios, attempts to rescue Inés from Don Mauro's scheme to marry her, eventually escaping during the welcoming celebration for the new King Ferdinand. Under the pretext of their way to Portugal, Napoleon's troops entered Spain. The French soldiers are not popular among the population of Madrid, which regards them as invaders. The plans of Gabriel and Inés to flee to Cádiz are interrupted by the French occupation and the 2 May popular revolt against imperial outposts breaks out. Gabriel Araceli is involved in the fierce battles taking place in the Puerta del Sol and elsewhere in Madrid.
Cast
Production The film is a free adaptation of Benito Pérez Galdós' novels and , part of the Episodios Nacionales. The production featured a large €15 million budget. The public subsidies provided by the right-leaning regional administration of Madrid represented the largest ever for a Spanish film.
Release Distributed by Alta Classics, the film was theatrically released in Spain on 3 October 2008. It proved to be a massive box-office failure, only grossing €0.7 million in the first month of its theatrical run. Reception Critical response Jonathan Holland of Variety deemed the film to be "an ambitious, often intriguing 200th-anniversary retelling" of the Dos de Mayo uprising in which Garci is seen "aiming for that grand, sweeping feel but failing to achieve it".
Javier Ocaña of El País assessed that Garci (with help from Valcárcel) had managed to craft a "solid" work, finding himself comfortable in street conversations, also considering that he had found the "perfect" Gabriel Araceli created by Galdós in the naturalist performance of Gutiérrez, but, that, when the time for the outburst of violence comes, the film falls short. Accolades
| align = "center" rowspan = "14" | 2009 || rowspan = "7" | 64th CEC Medals || colspan = "2" | Best Film || || align = "center" rowspan = "7" | |- | Best Director || José Luis Garci || |- | Best Supporting Actor || Miguel Rellán || |- | Best Supporting Actress || Tina Sáinz || |- | Best Adapted Screenplay || José Luis Garci, Horacio Valcárcel || |- | Best Cinematography || Félix Monti || |- | Best Music || Pablo Cervantes || |- | rowspan = "7" | 23rd Goya Awards || Best Supporting Actress || Tina Sáinz || || rowspan = "7" | |- | Best Cinematography || Félix Monti || |- | Best Art Direction || Gil Parrondo || |- | Best Costume Design || Lourdes de Orduña || |- | Best Makeup and Hairstyles || Alicia López, Josefa Morales, Romana González || |- | Best Sound || José Antonio Bermúdez, Miguel Rejas || |- | Best Special Effects || Alberto Nombela, Juan Ramón Molina ||
See also List of Spanish films of 2008
References
External links