Land and Freedom (Tierra y Libertad)
First off this isn`t my usual film review as I feel this particular movie requires a little more thought.
This is a 1995 film about the Spanish Civil War by British director (and personal hero of mine) Ken Loach, a man who`s left-wing and socialist views have brought both himself and his films into conflict with the British establishment for decades.
The film follows Dave Carr (played by Ian Hart) an unemployed manual worker and member of the British Communist Party who decides to go to Spain and join the fight against Fascism! The story is told in a flashback style with Dave`s granddaughter reading his letters which she finds along with photos and news articles after the old man dies many years later.
In the story Carr heads to France and then makes his way across the Pyrenees to join the Republican forces; he meets up with a Frenchman who helps him as he (Carr) speaks no Spanish. The Frenchman leads Carr to joining a militia unit part of the POUM - Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista. Carr is lucky enough to be assigned to a unit which is mostly English speaking under the command of Juan Vidal (Marc Martinez).
The units first experience of combat is manning trenches on one side of a valley with rebels opposite. The unit is made up from volunteers from all over - UK, America, Germany, Italy and of course Spain; the unit is also mixed and has both men and women serving together and Carr is drawn to Blanca (Rosana Pastor) a dedicated miliciana.
All Carr`s thoughts are brought to life through what you see on the screen and his voice narrating (through is granddaughter reading the letters). The unit is tasked to take a village held by the rebels, the fighting is bitter and confused, but they are triumphant, though they lose men during the attack. Here the director falls into an obvious author trap - where your own politics colour your writing! Part of the action includes a scene where the village priest shoots at the militia and is executed afterwards! I`ve read this stuff many times over the years and still am not sure whether it is leftist propaganda or not - there were certainly violent attacks on the church and clergy by anarchists and communists (but not everywhere) and members of the clergy supported Franco`s rebellion, but not all (The Catholic Bishop of Bilboa was executed by Franco`s order after the city surrendered). The scene which follows with the towns people and militia debating what to do now, whether to colectivise all the land or leave it in the hands of individuals is very well done and the director says it is the most important scene in the entire movie!
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After the battle Blanca and Carr become close friends, but the politics of the Republic is changing, the Soviet backed and Communist controlled government want to disband the militias and fold them into the new Popular Army! The various fringe groups who initially were welcomed as part of government are slowly been pushed out and there is a lot of friction and even direct confrontation. The government begins to restrict arms and ammunition to those militias who don`t accept and join the Popular Army!
Carr is wounded in an accident and sent back to Barcelona to recover, Blanca surprises him by arranging leave there too and they spend the night together. Unfortunately Blanca discovers Carr has decided to join the newly formed International Brigades and leave the Militia, she feels betrayed and leaves him.
Barcelona is a powder keg, anarchists and communists fighting over control of key government buildings; Assault Guards arresting anyone who is not a supporter of the governments new plan – Carr is disillusioned and tears up his communist party card and returns to the front and his old comrades.
At the front things are bad, no ammunition, old guns and orders to attack without hope of support or success, but he is reunited with Blanca.
The militia try, but fail and when they retreat back to camp they find a group of Popular Front soldiers arrive to arrest Vidal and others for crimes against the Republic! An argument breaks out, the POUM don`t think this is right, they are fighting for the Republic, but the soldiers have their orders, a rifle fires and the soldiers open up killing Blanca!
Carr takes her body home to her village to be buried in the soil which was freed by the people, he gathers a handful in Blanca`s red bandana.
The film ends with the old mans funeral years later and his granddaughter reads part of a poem by William Morris:
“Join in the battle, wherein no man can fail. For whoso fadeth and dieth, yet his deeds shall still prevail”
She then sprinkles the dirt from Blanca`s grave into her Granddad`s.
This film delves into the factional politics from the Republican view point and the personal side of the conflict far more than battles and the Civil War in general from the view point of a non-Spaniard looking on. The uniforms and equipment are pretty spot on to my eye, in fact I painted up my own 20mm militia along the lines of what you see in this film. The script writer has leant heavily on George Orwell`s Homage to Catalonia and several of the incidents which we witness in the movie are taken directly for Orwell`s text in my opinion.
The film won a handful of awards and is generally praised for its gritty realism and style with actors at times speaking Castilian Spanish, Catalan or English (or a mix of all three). Filmed in Spain, mostly in the regions of Aragon and Castellon.
