Carreteras Secundarias (Backroads) is a 1997 film written by Ignacio Martinez de Pison. The movie takes place in Spain circa 1974, just after the collapse of.
Carreteras Secundarias (Backroads) is a 1997 film written by Ignacio Martinez de Pison. The movie takes place in Spain circa 1974, just after the collapse of General Franciso Franco's military reign. The dictatorship and economic standards have left Lozano (Antonio Resines) and his rebellious son Felipe (Fernando Ramallo) financially destitute. The father and son duo drastically change their lives when they decide to ditch their normal lives and hit the road with what little money they have. Lozano and Felipe adopt a gypsy lifestyle, traveling in Lozano's Citroen, jumping from one town to the next. Along their travels, Lozano and Felipe encounter many hilarious as well as humbling situations, never showing signs of weakness in spite of their impoverished situation.
Lozano makes love to Estrella (Miriam Diaz Aroca), a singer whom he mights during his travels. At one point, Lozano and Felipe also compete for Paquita (Maribel Verdu), a villager in one of the towns they stop in. Father and son eventually settle down in a town where Lozano picks up a job selling imported cars, and Felipe meets the love of his life Miranda (Tania Adam). Carreteras Secundarias was nominated for two Goya Awards and was well-received in Spain.
Directed by Emilio Martinez-Lazaro. There is plenty of magic in this slice-of-life film set in 1974, a year before Franco's death. The well-crafted plot centers on a hapless yet lovable widower father (Antonio Resines) who drags his clever 15-year-old son (Fernando Ramallo) along on endless petty business capers and romances that finally pry open the truth about the father's secret history.
The clue is provided by the backdrop of the Patty Hearst kidnapping saga in California, which the film's characters observe at intervals on Spanish television, along with images of their dying dictator. It is as if the father and son, and the nation itself, are looking for a way to get off the back roads (carreteras secundarias) and onto the main highways of modernity. As a period piece, the film brims with the humor of Spaniards struggling ingeniously to make ends meet. Veteran actor Resines propels the drama and romance, here displaying unusual verve, along with Maribel Verdu as his young girlfriend.
In previous films she typically played little more than a shapely woman, but here she delivers some credible acting. The key trio is completed by Ramallo, a young actor who captures the frustration and optimism of the teen-ager aiming to make his mark. (Al Goodman, IHT).