an artistic company across Spain. in Civil War time. humor, nostalgic show slices, innocence, fear, hope, desire of survive, a kind of martyrs figures out of rule. a bitter story. not great. but warm. good performance, authentic atmosphere and a circle between tears and smile. sure, it is only drawing of a cruel event. not a photo, not a lesson. but its delicate art to suggest, to seduce, to tell a story, real or not but realistic, the play with nostalgic crumbs and small proves of heroic resistance to pressure of a dictatorship is interesting. a film about theater like fragile gun. as delicate form of protection. like ladder for a special form of escape. a song. a show. few shadows. ingredients of bitter story.

This dramatic film deals with lives of a group of artists and comics in the hard times after Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Jorge and Enrique are troubadours touring scenarios and playing burlesque during the post Spanish Civil War . Jorge ( Imanol Arias ) and Enrique ( Luis Homar ) are two artists who love the Theatre in the post Spanish Civil War times and adopt an orphan child named Miguel (Roger Princep). With a troupe that travels around the nation , Jorge and Enrique see the horrors left by the war meanwhile the official Montero (Fernando Cayo) watches Jorge and the rest of the company suspecting that some of them collaborate with the rebels opposite to the Francoist Regime . Jorge is Republican , and with the Varieté company they journey into various cities and villages . They are arrested, fear a firing squad, and receive a reprieve from officer Montero if they arrange a performance for Franco and his troops, bargaining with Jorge to stage in exchange for the actors' freedom . But a fateful and twisted conspiracy takes place originating unfortunate consequences .This is an interesting story about human beings and how they cope with the nightmare of post civil war including their penury , poverty but also some mirth and joy . We are shown that people's reactions to this kind of ordeal are various . It is an extreme situation and this is conveyed pretty well by Emilio Aragon , as we see people attempting to forget where they are and enjoy themselves watching the antics of our variety troupe , only to be reminded of reality . This theme of constantly being dragged back to the reality of war continues through the picture. The flick bears remarkable resemblance to much better ¨¡Ay Carmela! (Carlos Saura) ¨ as screenplay as direction . The acting is first rate , Imanol Arias in particular, and regardless of with whom our personal empathy may lie, Emilio Aragon does not condemn individuals . Above all, the pain and sadness of a country at recent war with itself is expressed through the tortuous mental and emotional processes Imanol Arias goes through . Emilio Aragon conveys the escalating tension before the show with a healthy measure of difficult time drama and ironic backstage humor . There appears even Generalisimo Franco himself attending the performance and Moorish troops aiding the Spanish Nationalists . Good support cast with prestigious Spanish secondaries as Carmen Machi , Francisco Merino , Jose Angel Egido and Luis Varela . The motion picture is professionally written , produced, musicalized and directed by Emilio Aragon in his first film . He's a real showman , he writes , composes and directs ; he is an authentic craftsman . Rating : 6 , acceptable and passable though contains some gaps and flaws ; resulting to a flop at the Spanish Box office .