****A romance film for all ages.****

[spoiler] This film is a magical fairytale of love, struggle, and romance, directed by the brilliant Mexican director Alfonso Arau ('Like Water for Chocolate'). Keanu Reeves has never been better at being a 'good guy', here tormented by his origins as an orphan, betrayed by a frivolous young wife, returning from War with a head full of hopes only to meet with the apparent collapse of all of his prospects. But Fate intervenes, and he meets the amazingly, delicately beautiful Aitana Sanchez-Gijon. She is the half-Spanish, half-Italian actress who two years later was so brilliant in 'The Chambermaid of the Titanic' .
She has all the freshness of a rose which has just opened in the morning dew. This is what Penelope Cruz was like before she went to Hollywood. The story concerns her family, the Aragons. Her mother is played radiantly by the Mexican actress Angelica Aragon, and her intense and domineering father by the Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini. One of the finest performances in the film is by Anthony Quinn. He was rarely better than this. It is little known that he was born in Mexico, half Irish, half Mexican. Since his middle name was Oaxaca, his mother must have been a Zapotec Indian. Here he is utterly in his element, since the story is of an ancient Spanish family with a vineyard in the Napa Valley of California. Whether such people still exist anymore, I doubt. But this is a fantasy, very similar to the wonderful series of three novels by Bret Harte, commencing with 'A Waif of the Plains'. Certainly these days, as Hispanics become more and more important in America, more films like this should be made exploring the early Spanish settler traditions. Much was made of this sort of thing in Hitchcock's 'Vertigo', but the lead was not followed up by subsequent mainstream directors. This film is a poignant story of how the lost and lonely orphan Keanu Reeves finds true love and acceptance at last in the bosom of a family and in the arms of one of the most delectable gals imaginable. But he only achieves this by being noble, generous, kind, unbelievably tolerant and patient, and by being tested in every conceivable way. Reeves could not possibly have played this character so well unless he had a lot of these qualities himself. The film is a wonderful achievement, the period costumes and sets are perfect, the buildings are authentic Spanish survivals from various places in the Napa Valley, apparently, the atmosphere is pure magic, the vicissitudes are harrowing, but love and devotion and goodness conquer all. This is actually a romantic film from an adult perspective which children can safely see, and that's saying something these days. No grunting in corners, as the emphasis is on love, - remember love? It used to exist. Maybe it will come back one day. We need more films like this to encourage us. We also need more Aitana Sanchez-Gijons, if we can remember and pronounce their names, that is. Etana was Sumerian for 'eagle'. I wonder if there is any connection with Aitana, as she has the same noble quality.
This film is an eagle, it soars, it truly soars. [/spoiler]


My Score 8/10.