"The Fall" and The Alhambra

A couple of weeks ago, an artist-friend of the DH recommended we see a rather obscure film called "The Fall." This friend's eclectic tastes are not always to our liking but this movie was WONDERFUL! If I ever get the urge to write a screenplay, I only hope I can come up with something half so unique and entertaining. A story within a story much like "The Princess Bride," the locales alone were stunning.

"The Fall" is basically set in a 1920s Los Angeles hospital. A young movie stuntman has taken a serious fall from a railroad trestle and is paralyzed from the waist down, perhaps permanently. In the same hospital, a little girl whose family are itinerant farm workers has fallen while picking oranges and sports a huge cast from her shoulder to fingers.

I won't reveal any spoilers (because you really should rent this film and watch it yourself) as to how and why the stuntman and little girl become friends. Nor why he spins for her the most gorgeous and fanciful tale about five unusual men intent on killing an evil Spanish governor. But I will say that the settings for this story were shot in eighteen different countries and I could not begin to do justice to them with my descriptions!

My favorite scenes were shot inside the fabulous Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. The DH and I visited the Alhambra about fifteen years ago on one of our earliest jaunts to Europe and I have never forgotten how breathtaking the place was. We had quite a memorable trip on that outing to Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, and Morocco, but the Alhambra was definitely the highlight!

Built by the conquering Moors, the Alhambra was actually a series of towers and fortresses overlooking the city of Granada. The main palace dates from the 11th century and has some of the most beautiful and (to a Westerner like me) unusual architecture anywhere. The decorative stucco is so thick in some places that it resembles a honey comb. And I was awed that some of the original paint still survived almost a thousand years later.

Nothing else like the Alhambra existed then, or now. I totally understand why King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella moved right in as soon as they threw the Moors out in 1492!

I would love to return to Granada someday, but until I do, I guess I'll have to content myself with re-watching "The Fall." I highly recommend you watch it too!