29/11/2024 - Galician filmmaker Maragarita Ledo Andión continues to explore women's stories of the past that mark the present with extreme sensitivity and intellectual acuity

Margarita Ledo Andión's cinema is always a profound and radical exercise in memory. The filmmaker enjoys rescuing little-explored stories from the past and illuminating them with the light of the present. This gives the stories that the filmmaker constructs a complexity that enriches her films and turns them into artefacts where historical narration, political and philosophical reflection, intimate portraiture and multidisciplinary artistic expression combine to form a unique and fascinating whole. I’d Rather Be Condemned was released on 22 November in Spanish cinemas by Atalante after receiving a special mention in the New Waves section of the Seville European Film Festival. It focuses on Sagrario Ribela Fra, a woman who earned her living shellfishing in the Ferrol estuary, in northwest Galicia. Sagrario's story of hard work and sacrifice is similar to that of many Galician women. Except, in her case she had to face a trial for adultery during the last years of Franco's dictatorship.

The film opens with images that hark back to the first half of the 20th century, showing women catching barnacles, clinging with their hands and feet to rocks that are constantly battered by rough seas. The physical dexterity and endurance of the shellfish gatherers is impressive and exciting. The same effect is achieved by Monica de Nut's voice immediately afterwards. Alone in front of a microphone she sings, emitting high-pitched, powerful cries, a song that is a feat of vocal technique but also a kind of call that appeals to the most visceral human emotions. And it is in this balance between a more intellectualised discourse and a universal popular narrative that I’d Rather Be Condemned finds its raison d'être. The film reveals itself as a dazzling fresco where archive images, oral testimonies from its protagonist, conversations with actresses, fragments interpreted by those same actresses and musical and poetic performances intertwine, giving depth to an already complex story.

Through Ribela Fra's story we discover realities that were relatively commonplace for women during Franco's dictatorship. And although they continue to echo in a present where systemic violence against women is far from being eradicated, are not very known by most people today. This is the case of adultery. Decriminalised in Spain in 1978, of which any woman could be accused without proof. But, this did not exist for men, who could only be accused of concubinage and only with proof. The film makes a significant effort not to be simplistic or Manichean. When Sagrario's difficult relationship with her mother is recounted, who abandoned her on numerous occasions, she avoids a story of the weak woman and eternal victim. Instead, she shows a woman who is independent to the point of disregarding even her own daughter. The same is true of Sagrario's experience with men: in addition to showing the cruelty and violence she received from her husband, the film tenderly recounts the moments of happiness that Rosario experienced with her lover, a good and “lovable” man.

In short, I’d Rather Be Condemned is a moving, intelligent, sensitive and courageous work. Ledo Andión masterfully conducts a choir where Sagrario's voice harmonises with those of artists such as the actresses Mónica Camaño, Melania Cruz and Iria Piñeiro; the singer Mónica de Nut; the visual artists Maruja Mallo and Ricardo Segura Torrella; the poets Luisa Villalta and Eva Veiga and the musician Carme Rodríguez. The result is a richly nuanced work that offers an honest, fair and loving portrait of its protagonist.

I’d Rather Be Condemned is produced by Nós Productora Cinematográfica Galega.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)