Black Bread is an elaborate Catalan Spanish ghost story which begins with a hooded man driving a horse drawn carriage through the woods where he attacks Dionis and his son Culet and kills them by leading the horse off a cliff blind folded. A witness, Andreu, an 11 year old boy goes back to town to report the incident. Farriol, who is the partner of Dionis and also Andreu's father is the lead suspect in the murder, due to his previous opposition to Franco during the war. The mayor was in love with Farriol's wife, Florencia, which creates bad blood until Farriol is forced to leave Spain for France. Andreu's grandmother works for the richest family in the area.

Now things become really complicated. Andreu becomes friends with a tb patient from a monastery who runs around believing that he has wings. Florencia convinces the wealthy woman to take in her son Andreu as a sort of step child in order to have a better life with education at a private school. More mysteries unfold concerning an old murder and Black Bread proves to be an interesting drama.

I saw this film at Noordelijk Filmfestival 2011 (in Leeuwarden, province of Friesland NL). We know very little details from the Spanish civil war, and the period after that under Franco. Our history lessons did not cover it at all. But we could deduce a broad overview from the ingredients that were offered to us throughout the developments in this film. History lessons were passed to us along the line, piece by piece.

A lot of characters are introduced in the story, none of them redundant, even the minor roles have their place and cannot be left out. Their evenly dosed appearances were always understandable, never letting us feel overwhelmed. I was very happy this to be different from some costume dramas, where the viewer looses control and cannot remember how all these persons relate to each other and how they fit in the plot. No problems like that in this case.

Our sympathies with the main characters had to move from time to time, given new facts coming to light, or new suspicions that were seeded by not-so-innocent bystanders. Choices that seemed apparent at first, changed perspective from time to time. I eagerly followed those new directions, and could not escape from the story line (even if I wanted to). It definitely proves that I got involved in the motives of the characters. Well done, obviously having an ingeniously constructed script to work from.

All in all, I found the 108 minutes spent very well. The story has much drive, and its outcome cannot be predicted, maintaining the whodunit tension throughout. Also, the film shows several characters to have a better side, in spite of making a negative impression at first, for instance the school teacher. Reasons enough that the film can be attractive for a broad audience. However, I fear that the "official" announcement text won't work on the casual reader.