The Enchanted Forest (1987)

Description

The Enchanted Forest (Spanish: El bosque animado) is a 1987 Spanish comedy-fantasy film directed by José Luis Cuerda. Rafael Azcona wrote the screenplay, based on the homonymous novel written by Wenceslao Fernández Flórez. The film has a large ensemble cast headed by Alfredo Landa. It was a critical success winning five Goya Awards including Best Film and Best Actor. The film shows the adventures of the human inhabitants of the shrubland of Cecebre and how their paths cross over under the shelter of a lively forest where animals, people and plants form a harmonious system. It notably tells the misfortunes of Malvís, a farmhand sick of the shortages of his trade, who decides to become a bandit and hides in the shrubland under the alias Fendetestas, and who is joined by a kid as an apprentice, Fuco; of Geraldo, a well-digger who lost a leg while whale hunting and is in love with Hermelinda, who is leaving to the city fed up with her aunt; of the lost soul of Fiz de Cotovelo, damned to follow the procession of spirits; and of the D'Abondo family, the lords and ladies of the parroquia, among other characters.