Cinema

Let´s see what we can watch during this week. Here we have some films that could be interesting for you:

The first in my list is “Divergent”.  I watched it in Spanish to practice and I think it’s a good idea because you don’t need a perfect language in movies with all that action. The movie is based on the book by Veronica Roth. The film takes place in a post-apocalyptic Chicago where people divide themselves into five groups based on their talents: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, Erudite. The main character is Beatrice sixteen-year-old girl. After the Choosing Day she became the one of the Dauntless. So she has to live without her family. But a good point that she meets her instructor and falls in love with him. Beatrice needs to practice more to stay in, otherwise she’ll be homeless.  And more she has to survive and save people. Guess what happens in the end and why the film is so famous by going to the cinema.

And the second one is a world-wide famous, dramatic and historical. It won an Oscar. It’s titled "12 Years a Slave". The film is based on an incredible true story of a man’s fight to win his freedom. Three prizes were taken merited because of its talented cast, director and soulful, heart-rending story.  No doubt, it’s very hard to watch especially some of scenes of cruel behavior of humanity. Its striking deep history will force you to reflect. No words, just… bravo!

 

International Day of the Book

As every year, we’ve celebrated the International Day of the Book (23 April), we’ve taken the opportunity to ask the school staff which book of the Hispanic literature they will read again. The literary works could be of any genre but originally written in Spanish.

The purpose of this poll was to create a list of our favorite books, by Spanish or Hispanic authors, to recommend to students and of course, enjoy ourselves. Throughout this work, we were able to confirm what we were already suspecting: the school staff has an exquisite literary taste!

Here is the result of this small public opinion poll (in strict alphabetical order, though...):

Aline : ‘Sin noticias de Gurb’  by Eduardo Mendoza.

Ana Andreu : ‘La tabla de Flandes’ by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

Ana Cortina : ‘El manuscrito de piedra’ by Luis García Jambrina.

Ana Fernández : ‘El maestro del Prado’ by Javier Sierra and ‘La verdad sobre el caso Savolta’ by Eduardo Mendoza.

Ana Sáenz : ‘Retahílas by Carmen Martín Gaite.

Beatrice : ‘La sonrisa etrusca’ by José Luis Sampedro .

Carmen : ‘El tiempo entre costuras’ by María Dueñas and ‘Como agua para chocolate’ by Laura Esquivel .

Cristina Martin : ‘Cien años de soledad’ by Gabriel García Márquez, and ‘Retrato en sepia’ by Isabel Allende.

Cristina Ramos : "La Celestina" by Fernando de Rojas.

Elena : ‘Poesía completa’  by Alejandra Pizarnik .

Enrique : ‘La ciudad y los perros’ by Mario Vargas Llosa, and ‘Olvidado Rey Gudú’ by Ana María Matute .

Javier : ‘Los renglones torcidos de Dios’ by Torcuato Luca De Tena.

Lourdes : ‘Espantapájaros’ by Oliver Girondo .

Macarena : ‘La sombra del viento’  by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

Montse : "Bichos" by Miguel Torga .

Nela : ‘Poeta en Nueva York’ by Federico Garcia Lorca.

Rosa: ‘La Tía Tula’ by Miguel de Unamuno, and ‘Marianela’ by Benito Pérez Galdós.

 

We’ve also included the list of the 100 best novels in Spanish published by El Mundo newspaper in 2001, in which they’ve taken into account the opinion of both 20,000 critics and readers:

Top  100 novels in Spanish by “El Mundo” - 2001

We hope you come over just as well as us with these magnificent works. In addition to, we'd love to know your opinion. What book of Hispanic literature would you like to read again?

Huerto de Calixto y Melibea.

Huerto de Calixto y Melibea. Love, passion, life and death. The complexity and greatness of the human soul and its relations. The well, the walk, the garden are images that make you speak with a low voice, to meet the messages.

If it is true that we are living to be happy, I want to be forever
by your side. 

The story
The story is about Calisto, who is an employee of Pleberio, the father of Melibea. Calisto is deeply in love with Melibea and enlists the help of a matchmaker. The matchmaker, Celestina, is also the owner of a brothel. Celestina links Malisto and Melibea by saying her that a man is seriously ill and may recover only by the attention of Melibea. Celestina arranges a meeting between the two in the garden of Pleberio.

Two servants of Calisto do not trust Celestina and therefore try to convince Calisto to not accept her help. If the servants, however, find out that Calisto is not changing his mind, they decide to create a pact with Celestina. They decided to help Celestina in exchange for a share of the money, received from Calisto. However, the two servants find out that Celestina does not intend to share the money with them. The servants go therefore to the brothel of Celestina and murder her, however, they are caught and also the two servants were executed by one of the prostitutes.

In the meantime, another drama takes place in the garden of Pleberio. Out of desperation Calisto tries to climb a ladder to get to the window of Melibea, when he falls from the ladder and dies. Melibea can not live without him and tells her father about the love story between her and Calisto. After telling him, she jumps from the tower. 

The garden
It is the garden of the house where Melibea lived in the story called La Celestina. La Celestina is a love story with a tragic end, the spanish version of Romeo and Juliet.

A lot of couples and also friends immortalize themselves
by locking a padlock to a wrought-iron well in the garden

The garden is located in the old town of Salamanca and is 2500 square meters. The garden was opened on June 12, 1981. The garden is built on part of the old city wall and offers a beautiful view over the Río Tormes with its Roman bridge. 

On the other side, the garden offers a view of the old town and the beautiful old cathedral. The garden has in summertimes a large diversity of colorful flowers. It´s an ideal place to unwind and enjoy the tranquility, the views and the romantic atmosphere in the garden.

When you haven´t been there yet, you should definitely visit this beautiful place!