%C2%A1Ay Carmela!

Ay Carmela is a 1990 Spanish comedydrama film directed by Carlos Saura and based on the eponymous play by Jos Sanchs Sinisterra. The film stars Carmen Maura, Andrs Pajares, and Gabino Diego as a trio of travelling players performing for the Republic, who inadvertently find themselves on the nationalist side during the closing months of the Spanish Civil War. The film was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 63rd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

As the planes fly overhead, Paulino reads a poem by Antonio Machado which introduces a note of patriotic fervour in accordance with republican feeling in 1938. The seriousness of the moment is followed by a comic routine in which Paulino twists himself into a variety of ridiculous postures in an attempt to break wind. The fourth and final act is a tableau vivant in which Carmela represents justice while Paulino brandishes the republican flag and they sing a song of freedom.The dangers and deprivation that they encounter in the republican side encourage the trio to go to Valencia. To obtain gasoline for the trip Carmela has to distract a republican truck driver while Paulino and Gustavete steal the fuel. They make this difficult journey on a misty night and inadvertently end up in nationalist territory. They are detained by a nationalist officer and are incriminated by the republican flag they carry amongst their props. They are arrested and taken as prisoners to the local school, which serves as a prison camp where the republicans are held. Carmela befriends a fellow prisoner a Polish soldier member of the International Brigade and is surprised that he has come to fight in Spain, a foreign land whose name he cannot even pronounce. In an atmosphere of mounting tension and terror, some of the prisoners are taken away to be shot. Carmela, Paulino and Gustavete are driven away in an army car. They are convinced that they are also going to be killed, but instead they are taken to the local theatre where they meet an Italian officer, Lieutenant Amelio di Ripamonte. Surprisingly, the lieutenant, learning that they are performers, wants them to take part in a show he has been planning to entertain the nationalist troops. They must stage a burlesque of the Republic in exchange for their freedom. ........

Source: Wikipedia