To keep this post short, I will give you my first and last impression of the movie.

At first, I thought the movie was a little confusing...I could not figure out where the plot was gonna take me.(I refuse to read the plot summary unless I am totally puzzled and that happens rarely). I decided to wait it out and see if the movie would explain itself. I am really happy I did.

The movie turned out to have a wonderful script and subplots that kept the film's continuity. I really enjoyed the attention to details and the ending of the movie was very artistic (I really appreciate artistic films). I am really surprised that even though the film appears to be done with a low budget...it turned out to have beautiful scenes of the mountains, village life, and the beach!

The actors performed there lines well and I was really caught up in the spirit of the villagers against the guards. There were some acting parts that could have been better, but that is true of all movies(there is no perfect movie in my opinion, just a matter of taste) As a whole, I thought all the actors played their parts well especially Roberto Alvarez the priest and Maribel Verdu who play Manuela. The main actor Carmelo Gomez acted true to his part as the Portero, El (The GOALKEEPER).

A great international film. Give the movie a try, you might enjoy it.

This is a magic story about a soccer player and a widow set during post-Spanish Civil War . 1948 , while driving his truck , throughout an abandoned way , Forteza (Carmelo Gomez) , a previous football player , stops when he watches a wounded man (Eduardo Fernandez) in the middle of the road . This man asks to be taken to a nearby village so his wound can be healed . The wounded man is part of a communist guerrilla called ¨Maquis¨ , irregular soldiers who fought Franco Regime in the North Spain . In a village Forteza meets a beautiful widow named Manuela (Maribel Verdu) , who is a sister of the man he helped . The seaside village is inhabited by diverse people : the priest (Roberto Alvarez) , the doctor (Abel Viton) , the Buhonero (Jose Alias) , deputies of Guardia Civil , among others . Forteza has an spectacle in which he competes with the locals of any village in his itinerary challenging them to attempt to make a goal . Things get worse when Andrade (Antonio Resines) , Sergeant of the Civil Guards challenges Forteza to a competition between the army force and the villagers .

Drama with historical and romantic elements , a little bit of comedy and rural habits ; including enjoyable performances and adequate set design . Set in Northern Spain during the years that followed the Civil War (1936-1939) , as the picture results to be other of the innumerable stories to deal with dramatic deeds regarding the Civil War background or its aftermath , in this case deals with fighters battling the new regime of Franco , attempting to do harm wherever they could , as this guerrilla roaming the mountains of Northern Spain and undertaking raids and unexpected attacks to government forces . A familiar theme about the global horrors of a fratricide war , impossible to forget to our cinema . This is an agreeable story plenty of enjoyable moments , moving feelings and attractive finale . Director Gonzalo Suarez, also writes the interesting script along with prestigious screenwriter Manuel Hidalgo who also wrote the original story . Filmed in his usual formal and stylistic scholarship , without leaving a trace the thought-provoking issues , in terms of dramatic and narrative excitement . The flick can be defined as a realistic drama , a romantic history , a historic fresco and a socio-political fable . Good performances from a Spanish all-star cast such as Garmelo Gomez as an itinerant former soccer star , a a skillful sportsman with a great record , though now is a bit older to be playing professionally, Maribel Verdu as a lonely widow , Roberto Alvarez as a likable priest , Eduardo Fernandez as a fighter , Antonio Resines as a stiff sergeant and Elvira Minguez as his adulterous wife . The film was compellingly shot , though in its final takes place some ridiculous scenes as when the unreal confrontation between Guardia Civil and Guerrilla on the beach . Anyway, it's is compensated with the great performances from main cast and competent secondary support , interpreters who provided a considerable boost to the result . Lively and emotive musical score with catching leitmotif by Carles Cases . Colorful and brilliant cinematography by Carlos Suarez , brother's director , being filmed on marvelous landscapes from Llanes (Asturias) , location where the filmmaker directs most his flicks .

Direction by Gonzalo Suarez is pretty good , he shows his skill for edition , realizing long shots with crowd who moves easily especially on his ending , during soccer competition . Gonzalo Suarez is a good craftsman who has directed several films from the 60s . He excelled at bringing to life tautly written tales about strange characters facing difficult circumstances and dealing with thought-provoking , brooding stories . Throughout his career he regularly alternated hits with misses . He has stylistic trademarks , but also been criticized for his slow-moving films , though his best flicks remain exciting to watch . Among his most important pictures , mostly dramas , are the following : 1994 The detective and death , 1992 La Reina Anónima , 1991 Don Juan en Infiernos ,1988 Rowing with the wind , 1984 Epílogo ,1977 Parranda , 1977 Reina Zanahoria , 1976 Beatriz , 1975 La Regenta , 1974 La Loba y la Paloma .

Gonzalo Suárez has only really stood out in his superb TV adaptation of "Los Pazos de Ulloa" based on the novel by Emilia Pardo Bazán, and going by what other light fare he has produced to date, I did not expect much from "El Portero".

Which is what I got.

I cannot help thinking that if you get a bit stuck with the same old faces over and over again, your credibility wanes, to such a degree that you begin to question casting criteria. Carmelo Gómez seemed off key, and Antonio Resines has made a few films - not many - which are worth remembering, but above all seems to go in for more trivial matters. Together with Maribel Verdú and Elvira Mínguez - probably the best in this film - the cast would suggest being something like being called attractive. However, something failed to click; maybe because the film was on too late at night; maybe I have already seen too many films harking back to the Franco era.......

A supposedly famous goalkeeper from Madrid whose claim to fame stems from having stopped nine successive penalty kicks in league matches, turns up in the middle of beautiful post civil war Asturias, and gets entangled with the "maquis".

The "maquis" were groups of men, with a few women, who took to the mountains after the civil war, dedicating their time to blowing up or sabotaging anything which would upset the Franco régime. These groups mostly operated in Asturias, but also in Euskadi (Basque Country),Navarra, Cantabria (Santander) and a few in Galicia. To get an idea of their operations you might like to read Hemingway's novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" set in the "sierras" north of Madrid, and also turned into a film. A few isolated "maquis" were still operating well into the 1960s. They lived on what they could hunt, what local people gave them, or what they stole.

The story being enacted just did not appeal to me very much and I could not suppress several yawns amid yearnings to tuck myself into bed just as soon as possible.

Magnificent photography in the splendour of Asturias, which alone made it worth while keeping with the film to the end credits.