LOS ANGELES — “La Bola Negra” follows three generations of men across crucial moments in Spanish history, bound by pain, desire and love.
In the film, Carlos (Milo Quifes) longs to belong in a fractured Spain. Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente) finds connection across enemy lines. And Alberto (Carlso Gonzalez) uncovers a long-buried family secret — one that finally gives voice to truths the past tried to erase.
“La Bola Negra” opens in 1937, a year into the Spanish Civil War, and is based on four pages of an unfinished work by one of Spain’s biggest writers, Federico Garcia Lorca. However, the film is reimagination of how “La Bola Negra” could have been if Lorca had finished it.
“Federico wanted to write the first explicitly gay character of his career, but he was killed by fascists,” Javier Ambrossi, one of the film’s directors, told Spectrum News. “This [the film] is a reimagination of his world. It is a movie for everyone. It talks about the universal experience of wanting someone or desiring.”
For Javier Calvo, also a director of the film, “La Bola Negra” is an epic drama and a beautiful journey about identity during a time of war in Spain.
“There is a beautiful cast of newcomers and gay main characters that really put their hearts and souls in this movie,” he said.
(L to R) Director Javier Ambrossi, Guitarricadelafuente as Sebastián and Director Javier Calvo on the set of “La Bola Negra.” (Image courtesy of Carla Oset/Netflix)
In the film, Miguel Bernardeau gives life to Rafael Rodríguez Rapún, a real historical figure who was a mining engineer, an Atletico de Madrid player, an actor, a militant in the Republican Party and believed to be the companion/lover of Lorca. Bernardeau said Javis had already done much of the research on Rapún when they approached him with the role.
Bernardeau said he took the facts that were already known about Rapún — such as what he was doing before the war, being part of Lorca’s theater company, and what was said about their relationship — to create the character seen on the big screen.
“We tried to make it personal to try and bring the character to me and be able to put some of my things in the character so he could feel not so much as a historical figure but a real person,” he told Spectrum News. “I enjoyed that very much. We did that with a lot of respect and sense of responsibility.”
Making his acting debut in “La Bola Negra” as Sebastián is Guitarricadelafuente, who is a Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Guitarrica also wrote the original theme song for the film, “La Nieve.”
For Guitarrica, writing the song was difficult because he didn’t know where to start. To create “La Nieve,” Guitarrica had to soak in the essence of the movie and try to understand the core of it to even start writing the song.
Guitarrica said it wasn’t until he fully understood his character, Sebastián, and lived his journey in the film that he could portray that in a song.
“It was hard because we didn’t see what our other colleagues were doing,” he told Spectrum News. “It was hard to tell a story that would embody the other [two] stories. It was the last letter that Lorca gives to Rafael at the end of the film that our characters read out loud that really inspired me to write the song.”
“La nieve,” or snow, is one of the original things that appear in the manuscript of “La Bola Negra.” For Guitarrica, the appearance of snow in the film not only means the descent of a journey but also the approach of death. It serves as a catalyst to decide about one’s life and to start to fully live as one wants.
Guitarrica said he thought his song would play in the film’s credits, but Los Javis placed the song in the middle of the film. Los Javis, Guitarrica said, used “La Nieve” to show how the three stories in the film intertwined.
Milo Quifes as Carlos in “La Bola Negra.” (Image courtesy of Carla Oset/Netflix)
“La Bola Negra” is now playing in theaters. It will stream on Netflix Dec. 2. The film also marks the first time the streamer will report box-office grosses.
The move not only marks a shift in how long Netflix keeps a film in theaters for awards consideration, but it could also show how strongly it feels that “La Bola Negra” has a real possibility at taking Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Click the arrow above above to watch the interview with Los Javis, Guitarrica and Bernardeau.