Altamira (film)

Finding Altamira is a 2016 Spanish biographical drama film starring Antonio Banderas, and directed by Hugh Hudson. It was Hudson's first fiction film as director since I Dreamed of Africa in 2000, although he wrote the screenplay for the 2014 fictional film, The [Journey Home (2014 film)|The Journey Home]. It was his final film before his death in 2023.

Synopsis

The film chronicles the groundbreaking discovery of stone age cave paintings in the Cave of Altamira in Cantabria, Spain, and the subsequent controversy by leading religious and scientific figures of the day.

Production

The film was shot in Santillana del Mar, Comillas, Puente [San Miguel] and Santander at the end of 2014.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by guitarist Mark Knopfler and percussionist Evelyn Glennie.

Reception

The film has a score of 57% on Metacritic.
Johnathan Holland of The [Hollywood Reporter] called the film "picturesque, but routine" and wrote that "little of the wow factor is felt on a first viewing of the Antonio Banderas-starring, Hugh Hudson-directed Finding Altamira, where events which played a footnote role in Darwin's great scientific revolution are reduced to a good-looking but unimaginative period drama in which everything proceeds exactly as expected".