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CANNES 2006 Un Certain Regard / Spain

Salvador, the last of the idealists

by 

On March 2, 1974, Salvador Puig Antich, accused of having killed a police officer, was executed in Spain. He was 25. He was the last political prisoner to be subjected to the "garrota" and his execution coincided with the end of General Franco’s regime.

Frances Escribano told the story of this young Catalan anarchist in his book Compte enrere/Cuenta atrás, which inspired director Manuel Huerga (Antàrtica, 1995) to make Salvador [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, selected in Un Certain Regard.

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The film stars German actor of Catalan origin Daniel Brühl, discovered internationally in Good Bye Lenin! [+see also:
trailer
interview: Wolfgang Becker
film profile
]
, along with young, highly talented Spanish actors Leonor Watling (Talk to Her [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Pedro Almodóvar) and Celso Bugallo (The Sea Inside [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), and Argentina’s Leonardo Sbaraglia.

The film, a UK/Spanish co-production between Media Producciones and Future Films, begins with Salvador’s arrest, after a shootout in which a police officer is killed, and is divided into two parts.

In the first part, Salvador tells his lawyer what led him to fight against the fascist regime, and the numerous robberies carried out to acquire new weapons for the liberation movement. In the second, we witness the long and painful battle of Salvador’s parents and friends to save him from the death penalty.

Shot in high definition, with numerous action scene, the film’s excellent cinematography (by DoP David Omedes) succeeds in reproducing the dramatic atmospheres of the 1970s, but its narrative and directorial structure is not solid enough to delve deeply into a theme as important and dramatic for the Spanish people as this one.

Thus, the first half is like a long, well shot commercial, whose only goal is to entertain, with a contemporary cinematic language that can certainly render it appetising for young audiences. A reflection on one of the many aspects of the Franchist regime – to restore the memories of those who are subjected to ostracism, prison, repression or even death to defend the values of a democratic society – deserved more mature directing.

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(Translated from Italian)

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