Raza

Reading some of the comments about this truly awful and pathetic piece of fascist apology, I was considerably shocked.

'Raza', written by the dictator Franco himself, is nearly a Freudian reconstruction of the Franco family history mixed with a really difficult to stand glorification of the fascist, falangist version, symbolism. Nevertheless, one has to admit that the screenplay has splendid, unintentionated, humor moments (the comments about the almogaveres are really one of those moments to be present in any compilation of absurdities).

Even recognizing that Saenz de Heredia was a good director, in the technical way of speaking, he was not Leni Riefenstahl. More than sixty years later this film just can be look as an interesting piece of archelogy.

The movie was filmed when Spain, after the Civil War, was suffering a brutal genocide carried out by the victorious fascist and dictatorial side. And this movie is one of the first attempts to justify that genocide.

In any civilized country, after a civil war, there are amnesties and agreements in order to rebuild the country. That did not happen in Spain: the fascist dictator Francisco Franco, author of the pseudonymous novel, decided that it was necessary to exterminate all the republican, democratic and constitutional side survivors. This Spanish sad history period is known outside Spain as "The White Terror". In fact, Spain is the second country in the world with more mass graves. Those were years of forced labor camps, mass executions in villages, abuses and tortures, not to mention rotten justice and politics. How to justify all this postwar barbarism in the years to come? Starting with this movie.

This film represents, in a not very disguised way, an attempt to justify the unjustifiable, while fascist values are extolled.

The characters are linear, mono-neuronal. Or white or black. Villains or angels. Of course, the opposites to the fascist regime represent the perfidious, evil and demonic characters.

Nobody should be surprised about the simplicity of the script. The genocidal dictator Francisco Franco was not exactly a brilliant person, apart from being uneducated and suffering from delusions of grandeur. He could be considered one of the most awkward military men in history. And the script is hand in hand with his intelligence: ridiculously simple and tendentious, wich, in the film, is reflected with declamatory dialogues and rigid performances.

Some years later, Spain became an ally of the United States. During the talks it was evident that it was necessary to erase the all the traces of genocide and crimes. A Ministry of Information and Tourism was created (euphemism of the Ministry of Censorship) and, as you can see by reading some user reviews, it worked. Many Spaniards are unaware of the genocide that occurred in Spain after the civil war. Some Spaniards swallowed fascist propaganda. And a few ignorant or mean Spaniards consider this movie/pamphlet an art masterwrok.

The political and judicial corruption, as well as some executions, lasted until the end of the dictatorship, in 1975, but the lies, the pain remain, as this eyesore film remains, considered the greatest disgrace of Spanish cinema.

And now I ask you: Would you watch a plain simple film based on a novel and script by Adolf itler justifying the Holocaust and extolling nazism? It's the same case.

Although perhaps this film helps you understand why the Francoism direct heirs, actually in government, refuse again and again to investigate the crimes of the Franco's fascist and genocide dictatorial regime and help the families of the victims to find the remains of their loved ones in the common graves.

I had to watch it for a class project and it's possibly the worst movie 've ever watched (and i've watched awful things) technically it doesn't worth a s*** and the plot is a "version" of Franco's life, totally and absolutely fascist, from the beginning to the end. You could think that it would be interesting from the historical point of view, but it's only a one side version of the history, and we've seen too much of that side during 40 years, i don't agree with that version at all but for disgrace, in Spain, some people still thinks like that, and tries to make everyone to think this. And if not, well you can imaging how many people had to go out of the country with Franco, so, would you like to had to do that? what would you do if your brother makes you to travel to another country just because you have a different point of view?? so if you want to take a siesta, or a headache, watch it. but please, DON'T Believe IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the early 40s, Franco looked at Hitler or Mussolini as his guides... he wanted to achieve the same that his allies during the Spanish civil war have attained in their own countries. Franco also wanted his own Riefenstahl-like propaganda. So this film tries to be that, filled with the distorted and Manichean view of reality that was the rule in Spain under Franco's rule. The film has some historical interest, not for historical facts, but for the people interested in fascist propaganda during the 40s. It might shed some light into the simple-minded view of the world of the Spanish dictator, who was responsible for the script. The facts shown here are post war half-trues and lies, typical "history written by the victors"

Not a bad film in the technical features, well shooted and with some good acting, mostly from José Nieto in the role of Pedro Churruca Jr (the bad brother later redeemed by doing treason to his previous comrades and returning to the "right" track).

Sáenz de Heredia was a good director, one of the top names of Spanish cinema, and He has much better pictures than this one.

Anyway, the script (based on a novel written by Franco) is very partial, and depicts the enemy as bloody thirsty avengers who want to destroy everything that is "good" and "pure" (to be fair the rebel side, commanded by Franco, killed at least as much people as the other - and possibly more - during the war, and when the war was over, the dictatorship created by Franco continued to killing people from the prisons for another ten years! So when you see Raza try to put things in their right terms. This is a movie made from the winner's point of view, so you better don't take the political side too seriously if you want to understand the real situation of Spain in the last years of the 19th century and the first forty years of the 20th.