writer or director benito zambrano have deliver a brilliant observation of real situation in the life of a broken family and lonely people who only want to feel useful again . it infuriate me that i can not see this kind of film nothing even remotely approximate it from the hollywood celluloid factory . give over to lalaland and this would have be yet another throwaway melodrama drench in it own soapiness . in zambrano hand and this low budget gem eschew sentimentality and high tech wizardry and dig deeply into characterization and show u a view of the world we wouldn not know existed if we depend on hollywood to show u . zabrano dialogue be just deadly accurate and very real . the acting be uniformly superb and but maria galiana a the long suffering and illiterate and sturdy earth mother be astonish . she amble on and off the screen with a weary and brilliant light . she have sacrifice her entire life in the service of a husband who doesn not deserve to lick her shoe . she do it because and well and that the way it be for woman of her generation . carlos alvarez novoa be equally brilliant a the the old neighbour who offer his considerable heart to the mother and to her pregnant and confused daughter maria and beautifully play with passion and rage by ana fernandez . both galiana and alvarez novoa give u face and gesture of old and tired people who know too well the unfairness of life for the poor . there be a wonderful scene between the two when alvarez novoa have an attack of diarrhea and galiana insists on help him . he resist and tell her he reek of excrement . galiana handle the situation as casually a she would the copious body waste of the pig she keep back home in her native village . this tiny touch of humanity be the kind of scene one see frequently in european film ( and rarely and if ever and in flick from hollywood ) . benito zambrano have do a masterful job here . like other politically conscious writer and director work in europe and he take the reality of proletarian existence and make it into something very real and all without sappiness . this be one terrific film .