RIFLE RANGE BOY: spain

Showing posts with label spain. Show all posts

Monday, 18 October 2021

Through the lens of a child's eyes!

El Sur (Spanish, The South; 1983)
Director: Victor Erice

This film has been hailed as one of the best films ever to come out of Spain. Ironically, the director refers to this film as an unfinished product. The remaining 90 minutes of the movie where the protagonist is supposed to visit the South of Spain never came out in the final product. Some say it was due to a lack of funds that the producer did not proceed with filming.

As children, as we were growing up, we wanted to know everything that was happening around us. We knew something not right was going on but just could not put the finger on it. The adults kept things secretive, but we sensed something was cooking. We put two and two together to paint a composite picture of what we perceive as complicated adult life. Sometimes, we understand more than we were expected to know. Other times, we got it all totally wrong.

This movie portrays the emotions beautifully that a child goes through the heady times of childhood in the uncertain times after the Spanish Civil War. Estella lives in the Northern part of Spain with her parents. Her parents are not precisely the lovey-dovey type of couple. The father is a medical doctor engrossed in his psychological experiments while the mother is contended to play housewife and knitting. There is not much intimacy going on; Father stays alone in the upstairs room.

Snooping around, Estella suspects that Father may have a movie star lover whom he jilted when he left the South. Father was active in the Spanish War on the Republican side against General Franco. His father, however, was on Franco's side. Both father and son had a falling, and Estella's father left with bad blood.

Realistically, Estella's father is suffering from PTSD. It could be a culmination of many reasons - his disappointment with the Civil War, his departure from the South, leaving his old girlfriend, trapped in a loveless marriage and the dull weather of the North.

As the years go by, Estella slowly understands what her father is going through, but nothing can predict what goes through his mind. All the while, the South remains a mysterious area to Estella. A single visit by her paternal in her childhood makes it even more intriguing. One day, Estella gets her chance to go down and endure the South. She goes there to study. The second part of her experience is not there in the film as it ends there.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Saturday, 16 October 2021

Everything is fake!

Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Screenplay and Direction: Victor Erice

This offering is said the best film ever to come out of Spain. To a movie connoisseur, this film is all about what filmmaking is all about. It is about the depiction of subliminal messages in symbolism and in such a subtle manner that beats the censors but not the intended target, the audience.

To a regular filmgoer, the movie would be as exciting as watching paint dry. It is relatively slow, with frequent long pauses between takes. It is said that it was intentional to drive home the point about Spain's tumultuous times under the fascist dictator General Francisco Franco between 1939 and 1975. It tried to show how people led hollow lives; there was silence due to the dearth of human economic activities and governmental censorship that altered people's reality.

It narrates a family of four, a father, a mother and two young sisters with a live-in maid. Both the parents are obviously not on cordial terms. Both of them seemed to be engaged in their own activities. Father (Fernando) is into writing poems and tending to his beehives day in day out. Mother (Theresa) is in her own world, writing letters to an unknown lover.

The setting is 1940s Francoist Spain, in a small village where nothing is happening. The excitement of the day is the arrival of the movie screening van. That day, they were screening a butchered version of Frankenstein. The two sisters (Isabel and Ana) are watching the film. Ana, the younger one, is confused about the story and why Frankenstein is beaten up by the villagers in the movie. Isabel tells her that everything on film is unreal. Frankenstein is very much alive and is hiding in a nearby barn.

The director, Victor Erise, has a particular interest in telling stories from children's point of view. (See El Sur). Ana slow learns about death. She thinks that an army deserter who hides in the barn is the Frankenstein from the film. She feeds him and gives her father's coat to him. So, when the deserter gets killed, Fernando is summoned by the Francoist police, and Ana goes into hiding.

What about the beehive? What is the symbolism here? In my mind, the activities surrounding the beehive are pretty unproductive. The worker bees work laboriously in what seems like forever unfinished tasks. They appear perpetually busy, working non-stop. All their efforts, the intricate organisation, and the complicated distribution of labour mainly fatten the Queen Bee and ensure her fertility. The worker bee would probably get a pittance for his life-altering endeavours. His life purpose, much like the peasants in the lower rung of the pecking order in a fascist regime, is just to fatten the elites under the pretence of doing a noble job in the name of the country.

Capitalism, vulture capitalism and the post-truth era are not different from a fascist organisation. The commoners are sold a particular idea. That idea is emphasised and reminded repeatedly to generate a false sense of urgency in their minds. The powers-that-be utilises the power of media towards this end. We all end up doing a lot of unnecessary chores to satisfy the agenda of the top 1%.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Monday, 29 October 2018

Valencia - Land of Paella

I was taken back when I was told that paella (pronounced payea) was the national dish of Spain; surprised because it was basically a variant of what Malaysian know as 'nasi goreng' and that rice could be a staple food in a region in Europe. Rice was introduced to this region in the 10th century by the Moors in Andalusia, making rice eating a custom in this region. Valencia is well known for its varieties of paella.

Paella - the rice is of the round ended variety, bomba rice. ©FG

Seafood paella, pick your choice: rabbit meat, snail, squid with black ink. ©SKCL

Around the railway station ©FG

High Street ©FG

Like opium to the masses, every town in Spain has a football team to showcase the prowess of the local boys. Everybody is happy; the boys who have their soccer stars to look up to for aim in life, the local populace are kept busy anticipating their favourite team's next outcome, the local thug with his betting racket, the local council with revenue, the club with selling tickets and memorabilia, the country with the proud yell of nationalism and the Malaysian bookies who decide the success or fall of the clubs.

Valencia FC stadium - Mestalla ©FG

©FG

The confluence of people exchanging their produce is the precursor of business activities. The Central Market of Valencia is an important landmark for visitors. Around this iconic structure are many sites of historical significance.

Even the Market (Mercado) is a tourist attraction ©FG

Jamóne ©FG

Aesthetically pleasing and pleasant to olfactory senses - Valencia Mercado Central ©FG

Around the Central Market ©FG

©FG

In the vicinity of the Virgin Square ©FG

Cathedral of Valencia ©FG

©FG

Valencia is an important port city. In the 15th century, it was an important trade centre before its role dwindled as the trans-Atlantic dealings became more lucrative. In its heydays, the area around the Central Market was abuzz with activity. Many a priceless deal were inked under the roofs of The Silk Exchange building, the structure considered one of most attractive and architecturally important of ancient Valencia.

©FG

Look at the intricate woodwork over the ceiling and be mesmerised! ©FG

©FG

The City of Arts and Sciences is an ultra-modern looking nouveau designed building thathouses exhibition halls, museum, recreational water park, oceanographic centre and an opera house. Unfortunately, it looked grossly underutilised with hardly any activities on-going.