The Carmelite convent of Batuecas Desert, established by Thomas á Jesu is located five kilometres away, but the route there from the town is 12 km.
(La Alberca, Abadia, Spanish Bath, Mahgreb.) Later images depicted Tripoli, Lebanon, Nineveh and Samarra in Iraq, and Luxor, Egypt.
The film focuses on the Las Hurdes region of Spain, the mountainous area around the town La Alberca, and the intense poverty of its occupants.