The scenario is Orcasitas, a working class neighborhood of Madrid. There was some substandard housing until the 1980s but, mostly due to residents' action, Orcasitas is now no different from many other neighborhoods in European cities, where most people live in decent, if modest dwellings and there are some green open spaces where children can play.

The subject is the eviction of people from their homes or apartments due to nonpayment of mortgage or rent and its consequences. One is, if there are children, parents may lose custody. There are three separate stories. In one, Azucena, a woman with a young son is unable to make ends meet with her menial job in a supermarket and receives scant help from her husband. In the second Theodora, in her sixties, is facing eviction because of providing collateral to her son's business ventures. In the third Badía, an Arab immigrant (presumably illegal) lives in an apartment with her daughter, who is left alone as the mother works. Badia faces not only eviction but deportation. The three stories are connected by lawyer Rafa, who spends most of his time trying to help people facing eviction with detriment of his family life. The movie exposes a pitiless, profit-oriented society where people like you and me can fall out of the "normal" category and end up jobless and homeless, in the margins of society. You get (some) help when you reach bottom, but little assistance to prevent your fall. In European countries you have impressive (on paper) social coverage, but it is steadily eroding, as Rafa's efforts to use it show.

I liked this movie. It dwells on a subject rarely treated in films. Juan Diego Botto has had a long and brilliant career as an actor in Argentina and Spain and this, his debut as feature film director, could not be more auspicious. If you only know Penélope Cruz from her glossy, sleek but typecast Hollywood work, you may not have realized how good an actress she really is; the scene where she awaits eviction at dawn is riveting. The eviction is enforced by ordinary police and (shamefully) by a truckload of cops in full riot gear (there may be protests from the neighbors). Cruz was also instrumental in the making of this movie; she is credited as one of the producers. Luis Tosar is an actor of many talents and does his usually excellent job here. The scene where Rafa's stepson finally realizes what Rafa does is deeply moving. Excellent cinematography, direction and script, the latter .by Botto and Olga Rodríguez. A not-to-miss movie.

A film about european 99%'ers struggeling to own a roof over ones familys heads, a film about poverty, greed, desperation, evictions and ultimately death among the average population of spain, that had some of the best welfare systems 30 years ago, before the euro coins entered the market. You see the similar problems elsewhere in the eu-system, and also here in norway ,but on a far lower scale, yet...

its a heartbreaking flick that gives you a troubled mind spending 13 euros for the ticket to the theater, its dead on realistic, and the pure facts on mainland spains ''lets empty the houses of people cause well be better of leaving them empty, because tear and wear and loss due to people living in them'' reigns the housebanking market. No wonder people starts trafficking on the streets to stick/glue things together, and in the long run spain and european countries will loose the trust that people have in goverment and welfare systems. And what happens then, its a simple word and that is called ANARCHY.

A very caotic film where peoples straystories crisscross in a fabulous manner, its despair fees like a knife at moments, the cast does a brilliant job, and the director and crew doesnt spare any means of methods to show reality.

Having travelled to spain several times over the years ive seen the increasing poverty of its kind shown in this flick. Ive also noticed the ignorance that happens when people gets poor and even homeless, the living environments decay and garbage rules the squares and corners where kids used to play happily as children. Social security has its decay here in norway too, but homeless, drunks and drug addicts has a trumph card up their sleeves over here, namely a bottle deposit system , that gives 20 cents for small bottles and cans, and 30 cents for large bottles. Youre not becoming a millionaire, but just a little thing to consider for a nation that use billions of its kind...

anyway, a big recommend to this one, its fun factor is inabsentia, its pure suffering and shows the modern way to drain peoples lust to live thinks the grumpy old man. Muchos gracias directore.