Latin Language Movies

These Latin-language movies are filled with smoldering stories of passion and desire. The human spirit is challenged and engaged to many extremes. Whether the protagonist is a little girl in a fantasy world yearning to escape her fears or a grown ma fighting for the right to take his own life, these Latin-language movies have moments that will enthrall and inspire.

1. "Pan's Labyrinth" ("El laberinto del fauno") Writer, director and creature designer Guillermo del Toro devised a rich and well textured fantasy world for this Latin-language film full of detail and mystery. This fairy tale takes place in Spain during 1944 with fascism running rampant. When a young girl must live with her mother's violent stepfather—a captain of the Spanish army—she follows a fairy into a world where she is told she is a princess but has to prove it with three tough tasks.
2. "Volver" The famed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar directs his frequent collaborator Penelope Cruz in this supernatural "dra-medy." Cruz's character's mother returns from the dead to finish mending strained situations that went unresolved while she was alive. This Latin-language movie has a very fitting title, "Volver," which means "to come back" in English.
3. "Talk to Her" ("Hable con ella") This is another brilliant Latin-language from writer and director Pedro Almodovar about the bond between two men caring for their girlfriends who are in a coma. One of the women is a bullfighter and the other is a ballet dancer. The film follows the various connections between these four characters and the destiny they end up with.
4. "Broken Embraces" ("Los abrazos rotos") Director Pedro Almodovar and actress Penelope Cruz reunite for this riveting romantic thriller. The story revolves around Harry Caine, a blind screenwriter who feels guilty about romancing the mistress of a rich businessman. Cruz plays the mistress, Lena, who we see in Harry's flashbacks.
5. "The Sea Inside" ("Mar adentro") Javier Bardem, who won an Academy Award as a stone cold killer in "No Country For Old Men," stars as a man not trying to kill others, just himself. He plays Ramon Sampedro, a Spaniard who fought for 30 years for his right to take his own life using euthanasia. This Latin-language movie is an astonishing true story that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.