Change Your Image
rudronriver
Reviews
Todos estamos invitados (2008)
Too late, too timid and unsuccessful
The shortage of films dealing with the oppression imposed to a part of Spanish society (the people living in the Basque Country) by the Marxist-nationalist terrorism of the Basque separatist mafia-like organization ETA can only be explained by fear. The fear that makes very difficult to depict what happens in a society in which silence is the fist commandment also explains why, after 30 years of democracy and a generous autonomy for the Basque Region, the terrorists remain active. The making of this film had to overcome the negative of many of its possible crew to collaborate in it (ETA has killed journalists and intellectuals who oppose to the Basque Nazism). Terrorism in the Basque Country is directly supported by less than 10% of population but many Basques regard themselves as "moderate" nationalists (about 50% of the population votes for more or less "moderate" nationalist parties) but most of them oppose terrorism only in their speech but never in their action. It is a mean mix of fear and usefulness (when you are a nationalist your life becomes much more comfortable than the one of non-nationalist citizens) that remains unchallenged.
It would have been necessary many more movies that portray the life of those that have been threatened for opposing to the nationalist mafia, to advance in the fight against terror, and those films should have been made twenty years before. Gutierrez Aragon deserves credit for reflecting how fear is the fabric of that society: it is well depicted the way of living of a university teacher who must be escorted by bodyguards 24h a day, and it explains that thousands of other common citizens live under protection (plain councilors, journalists, teachers
) while their neighbors and "friends" give them their back. But the story most of the time does not flow but advances in fits and starts, and the political responsibility of the authorities is not discussed; it seems that when writing the script so many subjects were necessary to treat, because of the delay of years, that the mission was not successfully accomplished. So far, fiction has not been the accurate way for cinema to deal with that everyday reality and maybe only documentary movies could be successful in it. In the scarce list of movies dealing with the suffering of victims of the Basque nationalist terrorism one stands out: "Thirteen among a thousand "(2005) (Trece entre mil) by Basque director Arteta: it is a documentary and it is both more valiant and more precise than "Todos estamos invitados" in the objective to portrait the covered truth of a society oppressed by Nazis in the middle of a democratic and prosperous Europe.
Trece entre mil (2005)
Breaking the silence imposed by the ETA
This movie has become an absolute must, as there have been very few movies in Spanish cinema dealing with the mafia-like terrorist band ETA, and no one was filmed dealing with the suffering of terrorism victims ever. The lack of interest in ETA is explained by fear, as ETA has killed journalists and elected politicians as part of its mafia-like strategy of terror (many of the crew refused to put their complete name in credits: they appear just as initials).
But this is not a political film, it provokes reflection in the spectator, but that reflection has a moral dimension. The principal element in this documentary movie are the interviews with relatives of thirteen victims of ETA (from the one thousand that ETA has killed), they are the only protagonists and they are the only actors. The crimes they suffered are reconstructed with their accounts and archive images. It is not just an exercise of realism with past stories but in the interviews "is" the reality itself : the effects of the crimes are present in those people years after they were committed as have been present everyday since then.
This plain approach of showing only the point of view of victims of terrorism without cinematographic artifacts, without a narrator and practically without music succeeds in showing all the desolation that has changed the course of so many lives in Spain.
Although the responsible for the tragedies, the terrorists and their supporters, don't appear ever, they are present in the atmosphere of fear in the population of that Spanish region, the Basque Country. The society is frightened by murders and mobster extortion. This increases the sorrow of victims, as they feel the criminals can persist in their terror strategy. An example is the story of Pilar Elías, the widow of an elected politician murdered by a terrorist from their same little town (he had saved the life of his future killer when the later was a child), now Pilar is a councilwoman in that town and the terrorists have also attempted to kill her with a bomb. Her life is a hell among bodyguards and she has always to think where will the terrorists attempt to kill her again, "but they will not expel me from my town", she says.
Another difficulty that the victims continue suffering after the crimes were committed is expressed in the movie: the society and institutions have neglected to provide enough counseling and support to them because of a mixture of fear and lack of commitment against the Mafioso nationalists, that have an unspoken power in that society. But at he end of the movie there is an indication for hope that things could be changing: nowadays victims of terrorism obtain much more solidarity expressions from Spanish society than ever.
Steven Spielberg was involved in dealing with the suffering of victims of another genocide through the creation of "Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation" that produced a series of documentaries about the suffering of surviving victims after the holocaust. We can compare "Thirteen among a thousand" with these documentary movies based in interviews with victims (Spielberg's approach to terrorism, "Munich", is not a documentary, and the point of view of victims is not the main topic for that movie). This comparison is relevant as somebody (mainly the supporters of terrorists, but also people with confused moral principles) object to "Thirteen among a thousand" that it is not told the point of view of terrorists. These people are in favor of a political documentary, "The Basque ball" (2003, by Julio Medem): its director said that he wanted to explain in it all the points of view to the terrorist conflict (mainly with interviews with politicians, but also with the sympathizers with terrorists). It is clear that Medem did not risked his live as Arteta has done, since the supporters of Basque nationalist terrorism were pleased with the "Basque ball". But one question is necessary to be asked: those confused moral principles that claim that all the points of view must be considered, would also claim that interviews with the Nazis should be displayed together with interviews with their victims?
El espíritu de la colmena (1973)
Children and Monsters, a return to childhood fantasies.
It is generally accepted that a political meaning has to be decoded whenever looking at this movie (it was filmed in the last years of Franco's dictatorship in Spain, and the story takes place in 1940, a year after the Spanish Civil War ended). But I suggest that one should firstly pay attention to the closest level of meaning: that is, just looking at the plain story narrated, metaphors aside. As 30 years after it was filmed so many people all over the world finds the movie fascinating it must be because of its emotive story about childhood universe, narrated in a poetically quiet tone.
The life of Ana, a five year-old girl living in a little village of Castille, is subverted after watching James Whale's "Frankenstein" in a mobile cinema (the scene in itself is a cherished sample on the sociology of movie-going). The non appropriate for children movie raises questions in Ana, who is fascinated by the mystery of the Monster -or Spirit- as her older sister tells her that he lives close to their large house. For Ana, the heart of this mystery is the discovery of death amidst the lies of her sister and the oppressing family environment, dominated by the effects of war. Ana will be devoted to looking for the Spirit-Monster and when she finds a wounded fugitive soldier (a superb scene without words) she will feed and clothe him as she takes him for the Spirit; later on she will be shocked by the discovery of death. The mixture of reality and fantasy in a child's mind when dealing with the mysteries of life and death in the context of an alienated family and the devastated landscape of the postwar period in Spain, is the main story narrated from Ana's point of view.
There are other stories which can be interpreted in several ways: the enigmatic life of the father, devoted to writing about social organization of bees; the mother writing to a distant beloved one; the sister, who deceives Ana with stories and playing death. These other plots convey other meanings to the movie; in a second level of meaning it is possible to interpret the beehive and the large house as a metaphor for the isolated Spain after the war, the monster as the incarnation of totalitarianism (made up of death bodies and the mind of a criminal), the two sisters as the metaphor of the two bands that fought in the fratricide Spanish War, and even the encounter of Ana with the fugitive soldier could be interpreted as the impossibility for this two bands of the country for becoming reconciled. There was a political intention for the movie, but is the plain story of the discoveries in childhood what gives the film a lasting preeminence. It also stands out for the great cinematography and the acting of children.
Él (1953)
The Discreet Charm of the Jealousy.
As his most technically accomplished Mexican-period movie, and almost a mainstream one, this film can be an enjoyable first introduction into Buñuel's obsessions: the same ones that ruled the surrealistic movement. The underground psychological streams in the mind are finely expressed in this story of a pathological jealous and his victim. In his Mexican exile, Buñuel was forced to make "nourishing movies", that were the most conventional ones in his filmography, but he managed to smuggle his surrealistic ideals into all of them (even he could make the absolutely surrealistic "The Exterminating Angel").
Based on an autobiographic novel by Spanish fellow countrywoman Mercedes Pinto, this film is the vehicle for displaying many marvelous surreal moments. It can also be viewed as a brilliant clinical recreation of paranoid distress, but Buñuel recognized that the protagonist, Francisco Galván, although insane, had many of his own obsessions: his view of love as an absolute imperative, the violent impulses, the fetishism for female feet
The story shifts from one point of view to another, which is the only way to understand the "two stories" in psychotic disorders.
Part of the story and many of the ideas were used later by Hitchcock for his masterpiece "Vertigo (From among the dead)". It is difficult to say plagiarism when talking about cinema, but this would be one occasion for it. It is not coincidence that both directors share a taste for the expressive properties of objects (not only as Macguffin); as two reluctantly catholic directors, objects usually act as "sacraments" for their narrative. In "El" the church and its symbols are the background for the repression and the blooming of instincts; other Buñuel's stories may be more connected with religion than this one, but "El" shows a life absolutely permeated by the relationship of primary impulses ("eros" and "thanatos") with spiritual transcend ency. With churches as the setting of the key moments of the story (desire, love encounter, the urge for murder, disappointment), church is at the beginning and the ending of this story narrated by the man who said "Thank God, I'm an atheist".
Although was filmed in three weeks, in the midst of the limitations of Mexican film industry, the movie is close to perfection in formal terms. In contrast with his previous movies, in which a still camera was predominant, in this one the camera movements are constant. The performances and the choice of cast is the most accurate of the Buñuel's Mexican-period.
7:35 de la mañana (2003)
What's the story? Morning glory
Splendid film that in just eight minutes displays an unusual genre mix: mystery, thriller, musical. Briefly, we are allowed to tell about the story: a girl comes into a European Cafeteria and then... Soft transit from nonsense mystery to narrative logic. In a no time, no place way Vigalondo managed a delight in B/W by means of imagination and despite (thanks to) the tightest of budgets.
Because of the unity of time-space the film reaches the intensity of a short poem (almost a haiku). Spain, land of quick poetry in B/W (¿remember the early Buñuel?).
A must see for reassuring our belief in young cinema outside the States.
The Aviator (2004)
Love in times of fear
Howard Hughes obtains every girl he can desire easily (if he has any time left amid lathering, aeronautic designing and movie producing), but he discovers a surprising affinity with Katherine Hepburn.
For Hepburn this man is not "too much mad for me" as Ava Gardner will tell him later- because Katherine suffers also from some kind of disorder. Both little conventional young of slim elegance, an innate ambition and highest professional achievements, find in each other a companion with features that are not abundant in their respective environments. The similarity between these two protagonists is one of the keys for this film, but few have found it. The main personality resemblance being the predominance of a neurotic tendency. Is attraction or necessity what unites them? A nature dominated by anxiety seems to adapt defectively to other neurotic, although the expression of the anxiety are quite different; he suffers a phobic and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and in Kate although resulting in a less handicapping way- we can guess she is an eccentric person, in constant need for control and easily stressed when feeling that she is not as much loved as she aspires to. Both reach that point in which one interferes with another ("fame is my territory" tells him, when some of the photographers turn their cameras away from her and aim them to him), but this would not be enough reason for breaking up as she will leave him for another notorious star that could also overshadow her (Spencer Tracy, her definitive love). The true reason is Hughes was not able to satisfy her necessity for security as Tracy would do (anyone that has seen Tracy's movies knows he is the kind of man that was born to give confidence). Neither Kate can render any aid to Hugh (when he is attacked by her family with wounding remarks she does not assist him: who is asking for help is not ready to hear others when asking the same).
Two very similar people rarely could complement each other, but living together is impossible when their main feature is an under-laying fear, that arises constantly from childhood time. The need for a mate in this kind of people derives from the necessity of a truce in the sense of fear, and both will look for that relief in each other at the same time.
I intended to deal only about one of the many aspects of the story.