[1] The plot is inspired on work by Benito Pérez Galdós and takes place around the events of 2 May 1808, when the people of Madrid rose up in rebellion against French occupation.

His girlfriend, Inés, is a pretty orphan girl living in Aranjuez, hosted by his uncle, the evil Don Celestino Santos.

They plan to flee to Cádiz, the birthplace of the boy, but times go scrambled because, under the pretext of their way to Portugal, Napoleon's troops entered Spain.

[5] Jonathan Holland of Variety deemed the film to be "an ambitious, often intriguing 200th-anniversary retelling" of the Dos de Mayo uprising in which Garci is seen "aiming for that grand, sweeping feel but failing to achieve it".

[7] Javier Ocaña of El País assessed that Garci (with help from Valcárcel) had managed to craft a "solid" work, finding himself comfortable in street conversations, also considering that he had found the "perfect" Gabriel Araceli created by Galdós in the naturalist performance of Gutiérrez, but, that, when the time for the outburst of violence comes, the film falls short.