aizkomendi

The documentary dates from the late sixties and has now been made into a DVD and retrieved from the cold limbo. It highlights the special features of the Basque people, customs, work and the ties to land and sea, as well as the Basque cultural and sociological dawn taking place at that moment, when the rural Basque tradition starts to mingle with the raw industrial reality, where immigrants that have flocked to the Basque Country cram in new urban sprawls along with natives, resulting in fresh ideas and views that have come to make up the current Basque society.

The beginning is quite striking when Basque characters of history are highlighted, such as kings from Navarre, prominent Spanish writers of Basque origin, people that have contributed to the discovery of the world or the Spanish colonization, echoing the kind of views and pretentious voice intonation typical of the No-Dos or Francoist newsreels. That way of telling and the very content conjuring up old glory and imperialistic days would have not been very appreciated today.

If we are to go by the images, religion is widely spread, the Basque being traditionally a very catholic people. However, the footage portrays a turning point in Basque history: while Basques keep attending processions, the new generations are embracing a secular view of reality, more in step with today's society. In addition, one is taken aback on seeing all those Spanish flags at the balconies on a traditional fiesta, reminding us that some decades have gone by since (can anyone picture that kind of ornamentation today?).

The narrative is told in quite a poetic manner, altogether the pace is somewhat slow. Anyway, well worth seeing it to look back on a key moment for the development of the values of the current Basque society.

A documentary about a leftist activist coming back to Chile from exile. Old harrowing memories come back to mind along with fears of finding a submissive Chile that doesn't fit in the ideals they struggled for, so triggering mixed feelings and a sensation of lost battle.

One of the moments features a visit to the place she lived in with her husband, a famous MIR leader, who was shot dead in a police raid after she got seriously wounded almost causing her to die. Amid flashbacks and footage from some decades ago, former party comrades and neighbours are interviewed, so conjuring up aspects and emotions related to exile, former leftist activism in the MIR, frustrations, ordeals, unaccomplished goals and new hopes.

The duration is rather long, but one doesn't get that impression, it captures the attention, making the vision of the film smooth.

Excellent film well worth seeing it. Three stories of different couples and families going through a crisis. The family environments portrayed depict various stages of incommunication: the story of the bricklayer features a couple of workdays where he neglects the common life with his woman and daughter to enlightening and corrective results, while on the opposite side, the couple that employs him has long lost the struggle of affection and relationship with their daughter to a desperate end.

The isolation atmosphere, loneliness, infidelity and lies pervade the whole plot of the film, where speaking out (sometimes violent) the untold and held back feelings seem to unravel the thing and let a beam of hope in.

The plot develops at a relentless pace, no moment to ease up or get bored.