The Heart of the Earth

The Heart of the Earth (El corazón de la tierra) is a 2007 historical drama film directed by Antonio Cuadri from a screenplay he wrote with Shelley Miller, and Doc Comparato, based on the novel of the same name by Juan Cobos Wilkins. 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 Maximiliano Tornet, 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.

Release
The film premiered at the Miami Film Festival in March 2007. 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.

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.

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".

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".

Accolades

 * align = "center" | 2007 || 11th Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival || colspan = "2" | Best Film || Won || align = "center" |
 * rowspan = "2" align = "center" | 2008 || rowspan = "2" | 22nd Goya Awards || Best Special Effects || Reyes Abades, Álex G. Ortoll || Nominated || rowspan = "2" |
 * Best Makeup and Hairstyles || José Quetglás, Blanca Sánchez || Nominated
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 * Best Makeup and Hairstyles || José Quetglás, Blanca Sánchez || Nominated
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