Here are some cultural tips, if you were not born in Spain, about the main cultural & social idiosyncrasies of Andalusia (in the South) and the Basque Country (in the North) that will help you to enjoy and understand better this comedy.
Are all stereotypes shown in the film believable? Are they true? The answer is yes and no. Spain has evolved rapidly in the last decades into a modern European country, so many of the stereotypes regarding habits and customs are no longer accurate, but they are still part of the cultural identity of each place. Stereotypes referring to character or temperament always manifest themselves within an spectrum, that is, some individuals may display some characteristics markedly whereas others not at all; I would add that, all in all, stereotypes are helpful navigation tools, as they simplify reality, but we have to keep in mind that they can mislead us in specific situations.
In this film nothing must be taken too seriously. It is a satire of two regional stereotypes: Andalusia and Euskadi (The Basque Country). In Spain there are stereotypes for every region of the country. People used to make jokes about specific regional traits, and it would work in each direction (I laugh at you and you laught at me) and for the sake of a healthy sense of humour let's hope this will continue to be the case.
THE PLOT: Rafa has never left the city of Seville, Andalusia (Southern Spain) where he was born. He meets Amaia, a young woman from the Basque country, who is visiting Seville with her girlfriends. Her basque boyfriend has sumped her and to cheer her up her two girlfriends take he to Seville. The trip has the opposite effect on Amaia who hates the 'compulsive' joy of Sevillanos. She is perceived by the men form Sevilla as a graceless woman who is most likely an ETA terrorist, another stereotype for the Basque people.
It turns out that Amaia leaves Sevilla but left her handbag at Rafa's place. Against his friends' advice Rafa wants to return it to Amaia and travel to Euskadi, in the
North of Spain. When he arrives, a series of misunderstandings force Rafa to impersonate being a full-blooded Basque who has eight surnames (to prove to Amaia's father that he is a genuine basque); he imitates the accent of the Basques but this is not great help and he gets more and more
entangled in his fake character in order to have the love of Amaia and take her with him back to Seville.
CULTURAL STEREOTYPES
CULTURAL STEREOTYPES
ANDALUSIANS are extroverted, they can express their feelings easily and many of them can be the funniest people in the country; once they start telling stories & jokes it' hard not to laugh, they are masters of exaggeraiton so you can have a really good time with them. They are also such great raconteurs and can improvise jokes as they speak, their language is flourished and often poetic, they do not feel embarrassed with expressing "feelings" and their world is still full of animistic beliefs, objects are given human characteristcs. It may have to do with the legacy from the Arabs, that brought with them a tradition or oral stories, like the 1001 nights and also created beautiful love poetry; when Andalusians speak it is common not to understand a word because they tend to cut the words in half (para ti = pa'ti, for example); also, they don't speak at you but shout at you or even, scream at you, as if you were totally deaf; they don't like to work in large amounts, and ideally what they like is to spend the day at the bar eating olives and drinking cold beer; Andalusian women are feisty and can talk for hours, often all at the same time, (men can do this also but with less intensity); they all dance the Sevillanas, young and old, and sing flamenco, clapping their hands, they also play the Spanish guitar; they are majortarily religious and express devotion of the Virgin Mary, or rather, the many Virgin Mary's that you can find in Seville which have been given very glamorous names; they invented 'the siesta', or so they say, and they live in the present, so there's always mañana? They may be perceived sometimes a uneducated or unsophisticated but this is superficial, Andalusians are very wise, their wisdom is very, veru old, so be attentive and observe them before labeling; they all seems to be from Seville or Granada, but Andalucia has another 6 provinces ... Finally, regional cuisine seems to be to be reduced to two popular dishes: 'gazpacho' and 'pescaíto frito' (fried fish) but this os not the case.
Common stereotypes about THE BASQUES. They have no sense of humour, they are too serious; men are fishermen, they are a primitive and insular lot that does not want to mix with other races, so they are all inbred; their national sports are rough, like themselves: stone block pulling and stock lifting, tug-of-war, wood-chopping and log sawing and they also play pelota; also, they don't take no for an anwser, and many men are excellent cooks, who escape from their women to go to these culinary clubs (where only men can be members) and there they cook and drink and cook and drink some more and in the end they eat what they cooked while still drinking and eating some more; the Basques make the best tapas (called pintxos) and the Basque cuisine is considered the best in the country; as mentioned before they are introverted, fairly dry, they often sulk and this is because in the Basque country it is always raining, and so they get into gloomy moods; they believe they are not a region but a nation, they do not like people from other parts of the country, they want independence form Spain and they still fight for it. In fact, one of the jokes portrayed in the film is to think that all Basques are terrorists, although this stereotype may have been softenend with the passing of the time.
EUSKERA (the Basque language)
Approximately 27% of the Basques speak Euskera. With the reinstatement of democracy in 1978 the teaching of the language in schools resumed with the aim to increase the number of speakers. Previously, Franco's regime has seriously undermined Euskera (and Catalan) so these languages suffered a lot. It was the people's determination in the Basque Country and also in Catalonia that kept the languages alive. Euskera is not your average language. In it not a bastardised form of Latin, like the other romance languages spoken in Europe. In fact in Spain, outside the Basque country, no one has a clue about the language. Some believe that Basque is one of the few surviving Pre-Indo-European languages, others, eccentrically, say it comes from outer space, extra-terrestrial beings brought it to Earth. In any case, its origin is still being studied and debated.
Finally, here are some Basque surnames: Gabikagogeaskoa, Agirregomezkorta, Barinagarementeria, Atxurraagirre, Zuazubizkar, Oianko, Gabikagogeaskoa, Agirregomezkorta, Izagirre, Barinagarementeria, Atxurraagirre, Beranoagirre, Eguzkiagirre, Iparragirre,Maneneagirre, Olatzagirre, Orkaizagirre, Zubiagirre, Zubiaga, Zabalegi, Zubizarreta, Zuazubizkar, Oianko, Beranoagirre, Eguzkiagirre, Iparragirre, Izagirre, Maneneagirre, Olatzagirre, Orkaizagirre, Zubiagirre, Zubiaga, Zabalegi.
They are long because they attach prefixes and suffixes to family & geographical names.
Here is the longest Basque surname recorded:
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