Well we are coming to the end of the school year and I have shown some of the films mentioned, and I thought I would share the results.
In one class everyone loved Almodovar's Mujeres. We also saw Como agua para chocolate and it was a big hit also. Excerts from Como agua para chocolate are in our textbook, so they were very prepared with vocabulary and such; and the kids really enjoyed it. Especially the realismo mágico..it IS captivating.
In another class we recently saw Lengua de la mariposa/Butterfly. I thought that they would not really appreciate the political interpretation too much ( they are high school sophomores), yet they were very moved by the ending. We had some pretty good discussions about it and I am very happy to have shown it.
Lastly, in my freshman class we saw El norte. They enjoyed it too and it really opened their eyes to another culture. It is one of my favorites and I love to expose my students to it each year.
In the past I have shown Mi familia...with good results. The problem is all the English! I really want them to hear the Spanish...and to FEEL it.
I have recently joined the Instituto Cervantes
Instituto Cervantes and they have an AMAZING library of books and videos. I am planning on checking out some of the other films you all mentioned in the past to see if they would be good for my classes. As a matter of fact, Cali, the Don Quixote series is in their library...so I will definitely check it out.
Well, there is my update. Thanks again for your suggestions and ideas. Esperanza