Spanish journalist-turned-author Francesc Escribano has always been attracted by the work of activists who “devote their lives to their beliefs.”  The subjects of his non-fiction books have included Salvador Puig Antich, a 25-year-old militant who was executed in 1974 for his involvement in bank robberies, and Pedro Casaldáliga, a libertarian Brazilian bishop who ran afoul of his country’s government and the Vatican during the second half of the 20^th Century.

Another of his works, first published in 2012, is the source material for The Teacher Who Promised the Sea, adapted for the screen by Albert Val and directed by Patricia Font (Cites).  It tells the story of Antoni Benaiges (Auquer), a Catalan teacher who was posted to a tiny, rural public school in northern Spain in 1934.  He introduced revolutionary teaching techniques which engaged his young students but his secular, left-leaning views earned the ire of the town’s religious and political leaders, and would ultimately lead to his death.

We know this from the outset as the film focuses on two timeframes.  The first is set in 2010 as a middle-aged woman, Ariadna (Costa), yearns to know more about her family’s past.  Her ailing grandfather is tight-lipped about his troubled upbringing, but she knows her great-grandfather was murdered in the 1930s during the Spanish Civil War.  Hearing about a recently discovered mass grave, she travels alone to the city of Burgos to see if it contains his skeletal remains and any other personal belongings.

The second timespan takes us back to 1935 where Ariadna’s granddad was a pre-teen kids in the classroom of Antoni Benaiges.  There’s no question Benaiges’s approach was unorthodox, but the children were absorbed, and the class size grew.  In addition to the basics of maths of Spanish, Benaiges had a small printing press and tapped into the students’ artistic creativity by having them write short stories which could be published.  One of these books centred on the children’s perception of the sea, which none of them had seen before, and inspired this film’s quirky title.

The world is filled with little-known true stories and The Teacher Who Promised the Sea is another great example of how cinema can be used to bring them to our attention.  It’s an absorbing, heartfelt movie with superb performances – from the happy-go-lucky Benaiges we see in 1935 through to the stressed, concerned Ariadna we meet in 2010.  The young children, despite limited acting experience, are also superb.  As director, Patricia Font deserves praise in weaving the two time periods together.  It’s as if we’re on the same knowledge-collecting expedition as Ariadna. 

Nominated for 5 Goya Awards (the Spanish Oscars) including best actor and best supporting actress, The Teacher Who Promised the Sea reminds us of humanity’s beauty… and tragedy.