Nana is composed by Manuel de Falla
Plot
As a woman searches for the remains of her grandfather’s father and discovers the story of an idealistic young teacher from Tarragona, buried memories of the Spanish Civil War are revealed. I felt very lucky to discover this film on a Singapore Airlines flight!
It tells the story of a beautiful progressive teacher, a proponent of the little-known and rather revolutionary “Phryne Method”, who tries it out in a small village school in rural Spain
Bad timing! He encounters the local priest, an authoritarian, on the eve of the Spanish Civil War, who died in an accident, and is then put on trial by the new authoritarian government and Franco’s troops.
I found it very moving and a great testament to the humanity and spirit of this teacher
They beat him, parade him almost dead in front of his young students, then kill him and throw his body away, never to be found. The film follows his story through the attempts of one of his students’ great-granddaughter to find her great-grandfather’s burial in a mass grave.
It deserves more attention and exposure at least in the arts circuit, in the UK, Europe and where I live in Australia
Unfortunately, the "true story" The book on which it is based does not appear to be available in English yet.