Pedro Almodóvar, as any film lover will know, is an internationally acclaimed and Academy award-winning filmmaker and
screenwriter. He was born in 1949 in Calzada de Calatrava, Spain. At eight years old he was sent to a religious boarding school in Cáceres where he had his first experience of the cinema, from which his own fascination and ambitions in that medium sprang. He’s quoted as saying of that time, “Cinema became my real education, much more than the one I received from the priest.”
Almodóvar’s movies, as he himself says, are very personal, drawing on his own experiences such as gay culture in Spain and the character of his mother. They frequently feature strong female central characters; they’re full of colour, passion and emotion; they’re irreverent, at times they’re downright outrageous and, despite the director’s protestations to the contrary, they have inevitably shaped the way their mass worldwide audience views Spain.
We’ve often advocated the use of film in this blog as a great way to expand your knowledge of the Spanish language, and we think that Almodóvar’s movies are some of the best you could choose for this purpose. Indeed, every Lingua Clinic Spanish tutor in London uses parts of his movies as a learning resource in the various Spanish courses we offer. If you’re not familiar with the movies, we strongly recommend viewing. Beginners can watch with subtitles; the more advanced may follow the dialogue – a wonderfully entertaining way to improve your Spanish when you have a Spanish course.