CREW
director
*Manuel Huerga
screenplay
*Lluís Arcarazo
producer
*Jaume Roures
photography
*David Omedes
original music
*Lluís Llach
*Crew details
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director
Selected filmography
- 'ANTÁRTIDA' (1995)
- 'LES VARIACIONS GOULD' (1992, documentary)
- 'BUÑUEL' (1989, documentary)
- 'GAUDÍ' (1988, tvmovie)
*www.manuelhuerga.com
Bringing the story of Salvador Puig Antich onto the screen is a fascinating project because it possesses the ideal ingredients for a great film with a universal scope and understanding. First of all, his actual life. The life of a young man who consciously chooses the option of fighting for freedom, accepting down to the very last consequences the tragic and disproportionate price he is going to have to pay for his acts, and whom, for that reason, history is going to convert into the symbol of a generation. His youthfulness, his attractive and charismatic personality, romantic and at the same time voluptuous, the richness and variety surrounding his relations with his family and his sentimental relations, the vibrant action of his exploits with his companions in the MIL and, of course, the tremendous drama of his last hours up to his execution, would be sufficient examples for creating a film of great intensity.
One has to add, moreover, the value of being based on real events rigorously documented which took place in a recent period of Spain’s history, the end of the Franco regime, which is relatively virgin territory from the cinematographic point of view. This permits us to recover a sociological setting that appeals to a broad spectrum collective memory among the public, both those who lived through those times and the young public who can find elements of identification with the character, whom they will see as a rebel with a cause, eager for and loving a better life than the one that has been handed out to him, fighting with all his strength forces against injustice, mediocrity and conformism.
In this regard, the film is a new and forceful statement against the death penalty, but also against all the impositions of an established order that is still falls far short of accepting its responsibility with History.
The film is not a nostalgic trip towards an isolated, local and anecdotal episode; instead, it seeks to demonstrate the absolute validity of its protagonist, independently of the historical or geographical framework. Sadly, the story of Puig Antich obstinately carries on being repeated in different corners of the world, whether literally in its crudest and most explicit form, or in the underlying vitalistic attitude of the character. For that reason, we have chosen a "modern" language which will connect with the demands and expectations of a present day public and stimulate empathy towards the main character without falling into the trap of seeing the world in black and white, without trying to present the character as a leader or a martyr, nor as a naive idealist, but instead as a normal everyday young person, with his contradictions, his doubts, his mistakes and his successes, but sufficiently lucid for rebelling against an intolerable state of affairs.
Manuel Huerga
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