Spanish film featuring Javier Bardem: Los lunes al sol

Title: Los lunes al sol (Mondays in the Sun)
Released: 2002
Director:: Fernando León de Aranoa

Plot Summary

This 2002 Spanish film is the story of 6 shipyard workers in an industrial town in northern Spain after they've lost their jobs. Each man deals with his new reality differently, some trying to reinvent themselves while others just try to get by. Santos (Javier Bardem) proves to be a bit of an agitator while also dreaming of the perfect life he could have in Australia.

While certainly a great idea and good cast, to me the film was slow and slightly monotonous.

Language Learning Notes

The dialogue in the film is quintessentially Spanish, and in addition to some of the fun Spainisms like coño, joder, y hostia, there were some fun new words for me: like astillero (shipyard) and gilipollas (jerk, idiot).

Another fun part of the film was when Bardem read a common Spanish fable, Fabula de la cigarra y las hormigas and is up in arms by its political message.