At the beginning we see Teressa writing a letter to someone who had gone away a long time ago. Some time later a stranger arrives and hides in the barn. He's then killed. Could he have been the person Teressa was writing for?
This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.
Yes, as far as I can see.
It isn't all that plain (most things in this movie aren't:-), but certainly nothing contradicts that interpretation. There's a photo of Teresa's "boyfriend" -probably at age 16- just before a bunch of photos of a younger Fernando (51:33). Comparing the appearance of the stranger (good look at 1:10:33) -although uncertain because of the age difference- suggests it could be the same person.
He'd fought on the losing ("Republican") side of the Spanish Civil War. That's why he was somewhere else. And that's why he came back as a prisoner.
But why couldn't he go back into the village? Why the hostility?
__________
Last movie watched: The Hidden Fortress (7/10)
It wasn't "the village" he couldn't show his face in ...it was all of Spain.
We're watching the immediate aftermath of a nasty civil war. The "republican side" was the loser in that war. A soldier from the opposing side that had just been vanquished in battle a few months previously was not exactly "welcome" in the country.
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War
How would they know which side he was on?
__________
Last movie watched: The Hidden Fortress (7/10)
"How would they know which side he was on?"
Really? Most soldiers wear uniforms; guerrila soldiers don't.
___________
Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum Goldilocks