Antonio is the English and Latin teacher we all wish we had in what appears to be a sex-segregated middle school in 1966. He uses Beatles songs to reach his students and wishes he had those lyrics down more precisely. If only the Beatles included lyric sheets with their albums. He also protects his students from the physical abuses at school. Daily cuffs from clerical administrators abound in the school. They also figure prominently in the homes, and in the society at large. This is Franco’s Spain, where many live “with their eyes,” hearts and minds closed as well. Hearing that John Lennon is shooting the film “How I Won the War” in Alemaria on the coast, he plays hooky and heads off to meet and speak with this idol, a sensitive poet who can do so much for him and his students with his words. Along the way, he picks up Bele’en, a pregnant young woman who is fleeing an abusive home for young women in ‘trouble,’ and Juanjo, a 16-year old who has left his home after his police-officer father demands he cut his hair. What follows is a partly based-on-a-true-story, well-acted and -directed, energetic, humorous and humane road movie, a film of self-discovery, determination, personal courage and identity, love/lust young and old(er), and a look at the damage of fascist rule in a country already tormented by traditions of peasant machismo and cruelty. It also reminds us of the reasons why the Beatles were more than just a UK/US phenomenon, how they spoke to people around the world, and how very much we lost on December 8, 1980 This was Spain’s nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Oscars. Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden provide the musical soundtrack