The Heart of the Earth

{{Infobox film

| director = Antonio Cuadri

| image = The Heart of the Earth poster.jpg

| caption = Spanish theatrical release poster

| native_name = {{Infobox name module|es|El corazón de la tierra|nolink=yes}}

| based_on = {{based on|El corazón de la tierra|Juan Cobos Wilkins}}

| screenplay = {{ubl|Antonio Cuadri|Shelley Miller|Doc Comparato}}

| starring = {{ubl|Catalina Sandino Moreno|Sienna Guillory|Philip Winchester|Bernard Hill|Joaquim de Almeida|Jorge Perugorría|Ana Fernández}}

| cinematography = Javier Salmones

| editing = Mercedes Cantero

| music = Fernando Ortí Salvador

| country = {{ubl|Spain|United Kingdom|Portugal}}

| studio = {{ubl|Manufacturas Audiovisuales|Future Films|Costa do Castelo}}

| language = Spanish

| distributor = Zeta Audiovisual

| released = {{Film date|2007|03||Miami|2007|04|13|Spain|df=yes}}

}}

The Heart of the Earth ({{langx|es|El corazón de la tierra|links=no}}) is a 2007 historical drama film directed by {{ill|Antonio Cuadri|es}} from a screenplay he wrote with Shelley Miller, and Doc Comparato, based on the novel of the same name by {{ill|Juan Cobos Wilkins|es}}. It is a Spanish-British-Portuguese co-production. Its cast features Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sienna Guillory, Philip Winchester, Bernard Hill, Joaquim de Almeida, Jorge Perugorría, and Ana Fernández, among others.

Plot

The plot is set against the backdrop of the February 1888 miners' protest in the Spanish province of Huelva stirred by Cuban anarchist revolutionary {{ill|Maximiliano Tornet|es}}, which was bloodily repressed by the Spanish Army, and the miners' deplorable working conditions in the Río Tinto copper mines under British employees, following the plight of Blanca (a teacher) and her friend Kathleen Crown, the daughter of the tyrannical manager of the mines, fifteen years after the events.{{Cite web|url=https://www.levante-emv.com/sociedad/2006/04/29/catalina-sandino-incorpora-rodaje-corazon-13735023.html|website=Levante-EMV|publisher=Prensa Ibérica|date=29 April 2006|title=Catalina Sandino se incorpora al rodaje de ´Corazón Tierra´ de Cuadri}}

Cast

{{Cast listing|

Catalina Sandino Moreno as Blanca Bosco
Sienna Guillory as Kathleen
Philip Winchester as Robert
Bernard Hill as Mr. Crown
Joaquim de Almeida as Baxter
Ana Fernández as Mercedes{{Cite web|url=https://andaluciainformacion.es/andalucia/383821/canal-sur-television-estrena-en-prime-time-el-corazon-de-la-tierra/|website=Andalucía Información|date=27 February 2014|title=Canal Sur Televisión estrena en prime time 'El corazón de la tierra'}}
Jorge Perugorría as alcalde ('Mayor')
Fernando Ramallo as Carlos
Juan Fernández as Nazario Infante{{Cite web|url=https://www.diariocritico.com/noticia/17481/noticias/el-drama-humano.html|website=Diario Crítico|title=El drama humano|date=13 April 2007}}
Pablo Durán as {{ill|Maximiliano Tornet|es}}
Elvira de Armiñán as Blanca Bosco (child)

}}

Release

The film premiered at the Miami Film Festival in March 2007.{{Cite web|url=https://www.diariocordoba.com/cultura/2007/10/16/filme-corazon-tierra-premiado-angeles-38364856.html|website=Córdoba|date=16 October 2007|title=El filme ´El corazón de la tierra´, premiado en Los Angeles|publisher=Prensa Ibérica}} It received a pre-screening in Riotinto and Seville on 10 April 2007. Distributed by Zeta Audiovisual, it was released theatrically in Spain on 13 April 2007.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portales/alece/registro_pelicula/?id=1986|website=Adaptaciones de la literatura española en el cine español. Referencias y bibliografía|via=Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes|access-date=8 October 2023|title= El corazón de la Tierra (The Heart of the Earth) · España-Reino Unido 2007}}

Production

The Heart of the Earth is a Spanish-British-Portuguese co-production by Manufacturas Audiovisuales, Future Films, and Costa do Castelo, with the participation of Canal Sur, TV3, ETB, IC, IB3, TeleMadrid, Canal 9, and Canal+. It boasted a €12.5 million budget. Shooting locations included Linares de la Sierra, Minas de Riotinto, Trigueros, Portimão, and Madrid.{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.es/estilo/gente/abci-sucesos-minas-riotinto-llevan-gran-pantalla-corazon-tierra-200704110300-1632480781612_noticia.html|website=ABC|date=11 April 2007|title=Los sucesos de las minas de Riotinto se llevan a la gran pantalla en "El corazón de la tierra"}}

Reception

Jonathan Holland of Variety wrote that despite the "superb" concept involving the tragic, real-life 19th-century suppression of the miners rebellion, "the script rushes through the historical facts in the first half-hour and then becomes far-fetched in its invented stretches".{{Cite web|title=The Heart of the Earth|first=Jonathan|last=Holland|website=Variety|url=https://variety.com/2007/film/markets-festivals/the-heart-of-the-earth-1200559580/|date=7 May 2007}}

Javier Ocaña of El País assessed that despite Cuadri's "excellent camera handling" at shooting mining excavations and riots, as the film progresses, "the story becomes less and less transcendent, more and more Manichean and puerile".{{Cite news|website=El País|first=Javier|last=Ocaña|title=Épica española|date=13 April 2007 |url=https://elpais.com/diario/2007/04/13/cine/1176415205_850215.html|author-link=Javier Ocaña}}

Accolades

| align = "center" | 2007 || 11th Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival || colspan = "2" | Best Film || {{won}} || align = "center" | {{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/diario/2007/10/16/andalucia/1192486940_850215.html|website=El País|title='El corazón de la tierra', mejor película del festival latino de Los Ángeles|date=16 October 2007|first=Lucía|last=Vallellano}}

| rowspan = "2" align = "center" | 2008 || rowspan = "2" | 22nd Goya Awards || Best Special Effects || Reyes Abades, Álex G. Ortoll || {{nom}} || rowspan = "2" | {{Cite web|url=https://www.premiosgoya.com/pelicula/el-corazon-de-la-tierra|website=premiosgoya.com|publisher=Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España|title=El corazón de la Tierra|access-date=8 October 2023}}

| Best Makeup and Hairstyles || José Quetglás, Blanca Sánchez || {{nom}}