I don't think I spoil anything, but I am just covering myself here...
The true value in this movie lies in watching it twice. Almodovar re-inscribes Italian Neorealism from the 1950s in the Spain post-Franco. The neorealist shots of el barrio on the ring road surrounding Madrid are symbolic, as is the lizard, the grandmother, and the song on the television. With a background of Spain during the Franco years, one can appreciate this film much more. There are also deeply surreal moments, which give the viewer a voyeuristic sensation of watching "cinema within cinema." The presence of Germany is also wide open to interpretation, as it could mean Spain's classic philosophical problem of "la Espana invertebrada" and never having the "eye," or the intellectual advancement, that the Germans had. This movie also touches on the issue of Rural/City which was so prevalent after Franco's time, where the city had come to be associated with corruption. One asks, at the end of the film, if maybe the city is not as giving of opportunity as the optimistic Spaniards would like to think. Or is it?
The true value in this movie lies in watching it twice. Almodovar re-inscribes Italian Neorealism from the 1950s in the Spain post-Franco. The neorealist shots of el barrio on the ring road surrounding Madrid are symbolic, as is the lizard, the grandmother, and the song on the television. With a background of Spain during the Franco years, one can appreciate this film much more. There are also deeply surreal moments, which give the viewer a voyeuristic sensation of watching "cinema within cinema." The presence of Germany is also wide open to interpretation, as it could mean Spain's classic philosophical problem of "la Espana invertebrada" and never having the "eye," or the intellectual advancement, that the Germans had. This movie also touches on the issue of Rural/City which was so prevalent after Franco's time, where the city had come to be associated with corruption. One asks, at the end of the film, if maybe the city is not as giving of opportunity as the optimistic Spaniards would like to think. Or is it?