Black Bread

Black Bread (Pa Negre, 2010) is a Catalan drama by Agustí Villaronga, and you can watch it online on iFILM. In a poor village scarred by the Spanish Civil War, a boy named Andreu stumbles on two corpses in the forest — a man and his son — and his small world starts to come apart.

The authorities decide to pin the killings on Andreu's father, who fought for the losing side and is therefore guilty by default. The boy sets out to learn who really did it, and the search pulls him deep into a grown-up world where everyone lies about everything. Francesc Colomer carries the film as Andreu, a child whose innocence quietly bleeds away scene by scene, with Nora Navas as his mother and Sergi López in support.

Villaronga shaped a harsh parable about how adult lies breed little monsters — the tagline means it. The film swept Spain's Goya Awards, taking the top prize among a record haul, and became the country's Oscar submission that year. It's heavy, beautifully shot cinema for anyone who likes European drama that doesn't soften its blows. Stream Black Bread (2010) online on iFILM.