REFLECTION JOURNAL 3: NOVIEMBRE

I would like to introduce you a great Spanish movie, Noviembre, which means ‘November’. It was directed by Achero Manas. The main theme of it is theatre.

The main character is Alfredo Baeza. He is from Murcia and comes to the capital of Spain, Madrid, to enter to the conservatory. His brother, Alejandro, is a handicapped boy who loves puppets. Alfredo used to make puppets on his own for his brother who is unable to talk and control his body. Alfredo, therefore, is fond of puppets, too, like his brother. He is elected to conservatory school, which, at first, makes him extremely happy, and meets with others from same school. He starts to stay at his friends’ home and they have sincere friendships with each other.

Alfredo is a free-spirited character. He loves acting and theatre. His most distinctive feature is that he hates money. One day, after working on streets doing juggling or playing instruments, his friend Dani gives some money they earned but he refuses it. Despite Dani’s insistence, he refuses to take money and for theatre he says “Taking money in the end means selling out.” He thinks that theatre should be free and its aim should be to educate public about current global events. Therefore, he quits the conservatory and wants to set a group consisting of actors and actresses whose aim is to play free theatre shows on streets for public’s awareness.

His friends quit the conservatory after him, and join in Alfredo’s group named ‘The November Manifesto.’ It is briefly explained in the movie, “We had several principles. The first was to create a free, independent theater. The second was to avoid all forms of both public and private aid.”, “No closed premises where entry could be limited.”, “All established acting methods were prohibited.”, “The Fifth Commandment, as Alfredo described it, was ''the law of Mohammed'', which meant we had to go wherever the audience was.”, and “the Tenth, and final: to never betray the Manifesto under any circumstances.” Afterwards, they start to play theatre shows on streets.

I liked the movie because it changed my vision about theatre, money and the relationship between these two. I did not want to give any spoiler; I just recommend you watch it.

Here is the trailer of the movie.

In the video below, you can see the puppet show of Alfredo at the conservatory elections.