If I wanted my gender to be transformed into caricatures while being berated for two hours, Iâ??d read Valerie Solanasâ?? â??SCUM Manifesto.â?

I went into “Volver” with soaring expectations. Gaining dozens of awards and nominations from film festivals around the globe, the film was hailed by many critics as one of the very best of the year.

Sadly, I came out of the film disappointed, confused and, quite frankly, angry.

Another film by the acclaimed Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar, “Volver” is the story of a group of Spanish women trying to resolve their issues in life, as well as in death.

Years after the death of their parents, Raimunda (Penélope Cruz) and her sister Sole (Lola Dueñas) begin to suspect that the ghost of their mother has returned to their village. What follows is a personal journey of discovery that dabbles in mystery, comedy and heartbreak.

The scenes of the women discussing seemingly trivial matters are the best of the film. With each actress fitting so naturally into her role, the sense of realism during these conversations make it seem as if the audience is viewing the actual lives of these woman.

Enough can“t be said about Cruz“s beautiful performance in the film. Running a full gamut of emotions, she fully fleshes out her character, Raimunda, with amazing results. Subtle details, like whispering to herself when she is surprised or sweeping the crumbs off a table with her hand make the viewer sometimes forget that they are watching a film.

However, all is not well in the country of Spain. One major misstep in the film is the intruding nature of the music. At far too many moments throughout the film“s duration, music kicks in that seems out of place and far too loud.

A score is meant to compliment the image onscreen without taking your attention away from it. In “Volver,” the music often encroaches on the image, thus taking the viewer out of the film.

Another major problem with the film was the way Almodóvar handled the entire male gender. I fully understand that this is a film about the relationships between generations of women. However, the film“s portrayal of men as the bane of society was too much for me to handle.

If I wanted my gender to be transformed into caricatures while being berated for two hours, I“d have read Valerie Solanas“ “SCUM Manifesto.” It“s one thing to use the heinous acts that some men have committed as a catalyst to show the strength of females. It is another thing to seemingly claim that every man in the world is an unemployed, alcoholic rapist.

The worst part of the film is that Almodóvar has these creatures that call themselves men doing these unspeakable things to their family, yet the repercussions of their actions are never fully realized.

With characters whose pasts are filled with incest, rape and murder, one would expect that these vile actions had left their marks on these people. However, it seems like these events are merely brought up in passing, without ever really affecting the characters.

For me, it is incomprehensible to think that someone could murder a family member one minute, and not show the slightest bit of emotion the next.

An argument can be made that, like all Almodóvar films, “Volver” resides in a world where the rules of reality take a backseat to the characters themselves. I can accept this.

What I can“t accept is bringing in such heavy themes and handling them so carelessly. It“s too bad that an undeniably great performance by Penélope Cruz is tarnished by a sloppy and uneven film.

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