el mar be a tough and stark and utterly brilliant and brave work of cinematic art . director agustí villaronga and with an adaptation by antoni aloy and biel mesquida of blai bonet novel and have create a film that trace the profound effect of war on the mind of child and how that exposure wreck havoc on adult life . and though the focus be on war heinous tattoo on child and the transference to like effect on soldier and citizen of adult age be clear . this film become one of the fine anti war document without resort to pamphleteering represent the end result have far great impact because of it inherent story follow child march toward adulthood . a small group of child be show in the spanish civil war of spain and threaten with blackout and invasive nighttime slaughtering of citizen . ramala ( nilo mur ) and tur ( david lozano ) and julia ( sergi moreno ) and and francisca ( victoria verger ) witness the terror of the assassination of men and and the revenge that drive one of them to murder and suicide . these wide eye child become adult and carry all of the psychic disease and trauma repress in their mind . we then encounter the three who survive into adulthood where they be all confine to a tuberculosis sanitarium . ramala ( roger casamajor ) have survive a a male prostitute and protect by his john morell ( juli mira ) and and have keep his life style private . tur ( bruno bergonzini ) have become a frail sexually repress gay male whose cover be his commitment to catholicism and the blur of delusional self mutilation or crucifixion . francisca ( antònia torrens ) have become a nun and serve the patient in the sanitarium . the three be re join by their environment in the sanitarium and slowly each reveal the scar of their childhood experience with war . tur longs for ramala love and ramala longs to be free from his morell and and francisca must face her own internal need cover by her white nun habit . the setting of the sanitarium provide a graphic plane where the thin thread between life and death and between lust and love and and between devotion and destruction be play out . to detail more would destroy the impact of the film on the individual viewer and but suffice it to say that graphic sex and full nudity be involve ( in some of the most stunningly raw footage yet capture on film ) and the viewer should be prepare to witness every form of brutality imaginable . for this viewer these scene be of utmost importance and director villaronga be to be applaud for his perseverance and bravery in make this story so intense . the actor and both a child and a adult and be splendid represent roger cassamoor and bruno bergonzini and antònia torrens be especially fine in inordinately difficult role . the cinematography by jaime peracaula and the haunting musical score by javier navarrete serve the director vision . a tough film and this and but one highly recommended to those who be unafraid to face the horror of war and it aftermath . in spanish with english subtitle . grady harp .