22/11/2024 - Alexis Morante recreates the time that the great comedian Miguel Gila spent immersed in the Spanish Civil War, a traumatic experience that the comedian was able to laugh about later in his monologues

If a few months ago David Trueba paid tribute to Eugenio in Jokes & Cigarettes, a title that alluded to the famous crutch that the serious comedian with the dark glasses and cigarette used to start speaking on stage; now Alexis Morante (El universo de Óliver [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) does the same with another Spanish comedian, Miguel Gila, with the beginning of his amusing speeches when, telephone in hand and disguised as a soldier, he called his contender and asked for. May I Speak [+see also:
trailer
film profile] With the Enemy? [+see also:
trailer
film profile] was screened at the last San Sebastian Film Festival and has just been screened at the Seville European Film Festival.

But if Trueba constructed a sort of biopic through the figure of Eugenio, where his romantic relationship with his first wife was highlighted, Morante has chosen to portray the young Miguel Gila who, unwillingly and forced by a convulsive Spain, was dragged to enlist on the Republican side in the bloody civil war. The boy leaves behind his film-loving grandmother, but takes with him her unbeatable sense of humour. Immersed in hell, he manages to give some optimism and encouragement to his fellow soldiers, when they receive a mission to stay behind guarding an abandoned village in the mountains.

What follows are the vicissitudes of surviving in horror, and how, despite the protagonist's optimism, he is eventually overwhelmed by cruelty at its worst. The film becomes a mixture of drama, war film and comedy thanks to the wit of Miguel Gila who, in one of the most memorable scenes (that of the bonfire) of this film with a commercial feel, manages to convey hope not only to his battalion brothers, but also to the audience.

A large part of the success of the emotion and humour conveyed by this tragicomedy - which is clearly reminiscent of Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful and Robert Altman's MASH - is due to the charisma of Óscar Lasarte, the actor who plays Gila. A real discovery from stand-up and magic shows, who manages to repeat the master's jokes with similar intonation, excitement and irony.

Based on El libro de Gila. Antología cómica de obra y vida, written by the late comedian from Madrid (who also acted in several feature films throughout his artistic career), May I Speak With the Enemy? not only stands as a heartfelt and respectful tribute to his talent. The most remarkable thing about this film that provokes both smiles and bitterness, is that it above all stands as a sensitive anti-war plea, with the ability to laugh at something that is not funny at all (the stupidity of all wars). But, as we hear at some point in its entertaining footage, “life is a joke.”

May I Speak With the Enemy? is a Spanish-Portuguese co-production by Pecado Films, Arcadia Motion Pictures and Philmo Capital AIE in co-production with Nu Boyana Portugal. Its international sales are managed by Filmax. 

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)