Learn Spanish from Movies

Learn Spanish from Movies - but how? Going to the movies and watching a Spanish-language film can be a fun way of improving your Spanish.

It's true that it's not easy to find Spanish-language movies in the USA or the UK, but they do exist. And, where they are shown, they appear with subtitles, so your actual level of Spanish is no obstacle.

Even if you don't manage to find any Spanish films playing at your local movie theater, you'll almost certainly be able to find yourself some videos - or even better DVDs - of good Spanish-language movies that you can watch at home.

Keeping up with Spanish Movies

Spanish language movies, especially those made in Argentina and Spain, are some of the best in the world. It's no coincidence that Spanish directors have won the Oscar for the best foreign language film several times in the past few years.

Keeping up with the world of Spanish language movies isn't easy, however, in the USA or the UK. You'll probably have to use your Spanish language skills and go to the Spanish or Mexican websites that specialize in the subject. You might try:

• CINENET
• Como Hacer Cine
• CineNgaños

Suggestions for Spanish Movies to Watch at Home

Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother): As usual, Pedro Almodóvar's plot is anything but conventional. After her son is killed in an accident, Manuela (Cecilia Roth) leaves Madrid for her old haunts in Barcelona. She reconnects with an old friend, a pre-op transsexual prostitute named La Agrado (Antonia San Juan), who introduces her to Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a young nun who turns out to be pregnant. Meanwhile, Manuela becomes a personal assistant for Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes), an actress currently playing Blanche DuBois in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire. All About My Mother traces the delicate web of friendship and loss that binds these women together. Like all the DVDs suggested here, you can listen to the Spanish soundtrack or the English one, and you can look at Spanish subtitles or English ones (or none at all!).

Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens): After a Spanish film, we move on to Argentina. In the first five minutes, we watch an overt scam--a young Argentinian named Juan (Gastón Pauls) running the two-10s-for-a-5 hornswoggle on a convenience store clerk--then find that we have been tricked along with the bystanders as another brand of deception kicks in. And so it goes as Juan, with both trepidation and excitement, drifts into partnership for a day with an older, more cosmopolitan conman, Marcos (Ricardo Darín). Knocking around Buenos Aires--from gritty downtown to cozy neighborhood side streets to a swank hotel where wealth murmurs behind every door--these damnably resourceful scoundrels try not to miss a bet, including an epic swindle involving the titular "Nine Queens," a set of ultrarare stamps.

I've just picked out two films that I specially like, but I'm sure you'll be able to find more Spanish language DVDs to take home and watch - just remember to get DVDs that have soundtracks and subtitles in both Spanish and English.