Watching Spanish language movies and t.v. series is one of the best ways to increase your Spanish comprehension
There’s no better way to improve your Spanish listening, reading, and comprehension skills while also being entertained than watching films from Spanish-speaking countries! Below are seven of the best Spanish movies (in my opinion) that I’ve watched over the years. I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I have!
Don’t stress if you can’t follow along fast enough to get by without English subtitles-this is totally normal even for those of us with a high level of Spanish! I live in Spain and most Spaniards use Spanish subtitles when they watch English language movies-no matter how high their level of English is. Spanish movies and television (as well as songs on the radio) are the most difficult to understand for non-native speakers.
Note: If you want to REALLY challenge yourself-choose to use Spanish sub-titles and then you can both listen and read in Spanish and watch the film over and over again :).
Learn Spanish with Rosetta Stone! Master the Latin American dialect1-Butterfly’s Tongue or La Lengua de las Mariposas
A movie about a young boy, Moncho, who is growing up in Galicia (Northern Spain) during the beginning of the Fascist era. This is a mostly heart-warming tale with a little tragedy woven in. It is a story of a young boy who finds a mentor in his free-thinking and open-minded teacher whose views clash with the increasingly prevalent Fascist government’s propaganda.
Unlike most people who shut up and go about their business and try to cover up their true values and beliefs lest they get into trouble.. Don Gregorio (Moncho’s beloved teacher) doesn’t try to hide his true nature or open/liberal-mindedness. An interesting movie. Though the movie doesn’t delve deeply into the political issues… its subtlety is still powerful.
2-Pan’s Labyrinth
This may be one of the most iconic, renowned, and widely watched Spanish films of all time and I get why.
When I first heard about this movie I thought it was for kids and it would be lame. I was so wrong! This movie is more of a horror movie than anything. It’s magical meets dark and scary. It’s a dark fairy tale that is NOT for kids and that focuses on morals, heroes, a magical escape from a frightening reality that ends up being just as dark if not darker, and the eerie mixing of two worlds that shouldn’t be able to touch. Almost everyone on the planet has already seen this movie but if for some reason you haven’t, you should go watch it!
3-The Sea Inside or Mar Adentro
One of the best Spanish movies of all time. I love Javier Bardem in general but he is absolutely phenomenal in this challenging role.
This movie is based on the real-life story of quadriplegic Ramón Sampedro who is paralyzed in a diving accident when he is young (and strong and attractive…) and later fights for decades to win the right to die (or to have someone help him take his life, as he is physically unable). The most interesting thing about this story (and man) is that he isn’t a pessimistic man. He’s intelligent and relatively cheerful for a man confined to a life of absolute immobility. He is simply a man who sees no point in living a life as a vegetable-unable to move or to go anywhere or live any type of life and being nothing but a burden to those left to care for him.
There are strong feelings within his family about whether he should be allowed to do this (religion, unsurprisingly, plays a role) and an even stronger battle with the law to contend with. It’s painful but also intriguing and somehow inspiring.
If you haven’t seen this film-go find it immediately and watch it!
4-The Secret in Their Eyes or El Secreto de Sus Ojos
Beautifully directed and acted-though tough to watch at times as the story is quite dark and disturbing. You have a murder and rape from the past that still haunts those who investigated it, two people who love each other but have never done anything about it, and an angry man who chooses vengeance and misery over living a full life.
Most of the movie makes you scream ‘what’s going to happen?!’ or ‘why doesn’t he say anything?!’ but the acting is great and the unexpected twists and turns in the movie leave you gasping in surprise. This is widely acknowledged to be one of the best Spanish movies made.
*available on Netflix
5-Biutiful
Javier Bardem is one of my favorite actors and he is amazing in this powerful film. Empathetic criminal. Loving Father. Dying man. This is a deep film that focuses intricately on Uxbal’s (Javier Bardem) character and all of the different situations and relationships in his life. From his efforts to protect the illegal labor that he helped smuggle into Spain, to his full-time role as a father due to the mental illness of their mother, to his ability to speak with the spirits of the dead, and his coming face-to-face with his own mortality, Uxbal is a deeply compelling character. Not a light film, but beautifully directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“21 Grams”, “Babel”, etc.)
*available to watch on Amazon
6-Maria Full of Grace or Maria, Llena eres de Gracia
This is a well-directed and acted film about the use of young (and even pregnant) Colombian women to traffic cocaine into the United States. I saw this film back in 2004 when it first came out and was shocked. I’d never known about these practices though, of course, I knew about drug trafficking from Latin America.
These days, we consume so many movies and series about drug trafficking (it seems to be in style to make series about drugs and legendary drug traffickers!) that nothing shocks us anymore.. but at the time this movie was groundbreaking and unusual. This is why it’s always been one of the best Spanish movies in my opinion.
This movie effectively portrays the tragic desperation that motivates some women to risk their lives and freedom for the promise of a better life, and how the scum in high-profit and criminal industries like drug trafficking use this to their advantage without a single thought for the life or welfare of the women (or people) they use.
Available to stream on HBO Max or Apple TV.
7-Like Water For Chocolate or Como Agua para Chocolate
One of my all-time favorite Spanish language films. This movie won’t appeal to everyone, there’s some unrealistic ‘magic’ type stuff in this movie that may seem super cheesy, but, for the most part, it’s a movie about love, cooking, and emotions. And remember this was made in the 90s! We didn’t have the type of effects back then that exist today. I mean….look at the original Star Wars movies…
Anyways… with Como Agua para Chocolate you’ve got thwarted love, a rotten foul-tempered mother, a haughty older sister, and a young beautiful daughter (Tita) who’s not allowed to marry. This youngest daughter is consigned to cooking for her family for the rest of her life due to a family tradition and her emotions are so strong yet unexpressed (she’s in love but cannot marry the man she loves played by a young Marco Leonardi) that they find their way into the foods she cooks. All of this happens against the backdrop of a ranch in a dusty old town in Mexico.
I watched Like Water for Chocolate for the first time way back in 2000 and fell in love with it as I was obsessed with romantic food-related foreign films at the time. The book is also very good!
8. Language Lessons
This adorable movie starring Natalie Morales and Mark Duplass relays the story of an American man (Adam) living in the U.S. and a Cuban woman, Cariño, living in Costa Rica that meet over Zoom/a video call as Spanish teacher and student.
Adam is a gay man with a partner that dies soon after the lessons start so the video lessons become a type of therapy as the two build a friendship via audio messages and video calls where they mostly just speak in Spanish with occasional doses of English mixed in.
The movie is cute. It highlights the differences between the two–their lives, economic situations, cultural backgrounds, etc. while at the same time showing how much they have in common as human beings with their own personal tragedies, insecurities, etc.
9.Off Course or Perdiendo el Norte
More comedy than romance, but with a little romance mixed in, this Spanish movie is hilariously and madly entertaining. It follows the story of two underemployed Spanish guys (Hugo and Braulio) who immigrate to Berlin after a TV advert convinces them that Germany is an employment haven.
They arrive there only to end up having to find work at a cafe due to language barriers, despite their science and finance qualifications. The plot follows different relationships and their hardships when one of the guys falls for a Spanish girl in the city.
They navigate the hardships of being foreigners without an advanced grasp of the local language, trying to make a living, etc. while keeping up the mirage that they are living great and successful lives to their families back home.
Stream it on Netflix or purchase from Amazon
If you’re looking for more ways to make learning Spanish fun, check out some of the related content on the language:
7 Spanish Courses in Spain for Adults