Week 3
A Country in Transition
The Transition to Democracy
(1975-1982) and el nuevo cine
español
Cría cuervos (Raise Ravens, dir. Carlos Saura, Spain 1976)
The longing for a European art cinema
A
perpetual
Spanish
theme
Blancanieves (Pablo Berger,
2012), set in 1910s-30s.
Berger, 2003,
but set in 1973.
La Règle du jeu (Jean Renoir,
1939)
But especially prevalent
in the early 1960s and
early 1970s.
TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY IN SPAIN
El nuevo cine español
El espíritu de la
colmena (dir. V.
Erice) is
released in
October 1973
Cría cuervos
dir. C. Saura)
Shot in 1975
and released in
January 1976
TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY & el pacto del olvido
20 Nov-1975
1977
• Legalisation of
the Communist
Party
Death of
Francisco
Franco
(Head of the
Catholic military
Dictatorship:
1939-1975)
• Censorship
laws are revoked
in favour of a
system of film
ratings.
• Free elections
in June 15, 1977
(first democratic
elections in 41
years)
1978
SPANISH
CONSTITUTION:
Spain becomes a
parliamentary
monarchy
ADULTERY,
HOMOSEXUALITY
AND
CONTRACEPTION
NO LONGER
CONSIDERED
CRIMINAL
OFFENCES.
23Feb-1981
Attempted coup d’etat
by army colonel
Antonio TEJERO. The
coup is unsuccessful
and the legitimate
democratic
government is
restored.
1982
Landslide win by PSOE
(Socialist Party) at the
1982 general elections
completes the ‘Transition’
period (the PSOE was in
office from 1982 to 1996)
1976 Cría cuervos
1974 La prima Angélica
1973 Ana y los lobos
1970 El jardín de las
delicias
1969 La madriguera
(The Honeycomb)
1968 Stress Is Three
1967 Peppermint
Frappé
Saura in 1970
1966 La caza
Carlos Saura (born 1932)
1964 A carga dos
rebeldes
1960 Los golfos
Left: filmography up to Cría cuervos (all films produced by Elías
Querejeta since La Caza in 1966). Saura continues to make
films today.
1976 Cría cuervos
1974 La prima Angélica
1973 Ana y los lobos
1970 El jardín de las
delicias
1969 La madriguera
(The Honeycomb)
1968 Stres es tres
1967 Peppermint
Frappé
Saura in 1970
1966 La caza
Carlos Saura (born 1932)
1964 A carga dos
rebeldes
1960 Los golfos
Left: filmography up to Cría cuervos (all films produced by Elías
Querejeta since La Caza in 1966). Saura continues to make
films today.
1976 Cría cuervos
1974 La prima Angélica
1973 Ana y los lobos
Geraldine
Chaplin in the
1970s
1970 El jardín de las
delicias
1969 La madriguera
(The Honeycomb)
1968 Stress Is Three
1967 Peppermint
Frappé
Saura in 1970
1966 La caza
Carlos Saura (born 1932)
1964 A carga dos
rebeldes
1960 Los golfos
Left: filmography up to Cría cuervos (all films produced by Elías
Querejeta since La Caza in 1966). Saura continues to make
films today.
Partner to Geraldine Chaplin throughout the 1970s. They make
eight films together.
El espíritu de la colmena (Víctor Erice, 1973); Cría cuervos
(Saura, 1976)
The New Spanish Cinema in the Transition
(both
produced
by Elías
Querejeta,
starring
child actor
Ana
Torrent)
art cinema as a means of political engagement;
however, the films’ content is NOT politically explicit or militant.
Against the ”Old” Spanish Cinema fostered by the regime
The family as pillar of Francoist society: promoting Christian family values (and
large families!) in the comedy La gran familia (1962)
Against the ”Old” Spanish Cinema fostered by the regime
Childhood in the popular
cinema of the Francoist
period:
Child star Marisol in such
musical comedies as An Angel
Has Arrived (Ha llegado un
angel, 1961)
El espíritu de la colmena:
constructing a metaphoric cinema
fairytale and place
Opening credits: drawings made by 5-year old actress Ana Torrent
El espíritu de la colmena
Silence and enclosure
El espíritu de la colmena
The Frankenstein monster: an ambiguous symbol
El espíritu de la colmena
The Frankenstein monster: an ambiguous symbol
Shared iconography in El espíritu de la colmena and Cría
cuervos
The Spirit of the Beehive
Raise Ravens
The family house as metaphor
for the decaying Francoist state:
a dysfunctional nation/family
stifled by strict hierarchy and
the oppressive weight of the
past, and ripped apart by
internal tensions
Cría cuervos: memory and history,
the education of children