Noticias de una guerra (Notes on A War) is a movie from 2006, the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939). If you do not speak Spanish, it is available with subtitlies. Director Eterio Ortega Santillana along with producer Elías Querejeta created this documentary/ reenactment using a combination of film footage along with voice-over actors to capture speeches of the time. The film was a product of comprehensive research in consultation with Spanish historian Santos Juliá and involved much archival footage not often seen. The idea of matching voice-over actors to the speeches of the era seems to have been meticulous. It involved detailed lip syncing, and outright lip reading where text was not available. The speeches of Delores Ibárruri ("La Pasionaria"), in particula, are fascinating done this way. Those of Francisco Franco are a little disconcerting. I have heard radio speeches of his before and the actor who played him in this case seemed to work hard to make them emotive. The film's attempt at a documentary without diatribe is relatively successful, although with the Spanish Civil War, a balanced presentation can still be an oxymoron in Spain.
There is one scene in the documentary, however, that is both chilling and bizarre, and reflects one of the fundamental problems the Nationalist narrative had. Early on in the war, Franco had understood that he could employ the idea of a civil war as a "Crusade" against the un - godly, secular (democratically elected) Republic that he was attempting to overthrow. At the same time, given that this was 1936 and Fascism was a serious contender for a state model throughout Europe, the use of Fascist rhetoric and symbology was attractive to all would - be dictators.When Franco speaks of "España totalitaria", he is speaking of a systematic, top - down, corporatist, Fascist world. But beyond the fact that German and Italian governments were funding his effort in 1936, Franco realized this combination worked as a mobilization tool that would aid in his vision of National Catholicism (think National Socialism).Nevertheless, to wed the conservative Church to Fascism, with it's clearly paganist imagery, was awkward.
Even if you don't understand Spanish, there is footage near the end of the film that is striking. At one point in the midst of a celebratory mass for their great victory, Nationalist supporters try to kneel before a priest giving communion, while at the same time giving the Fascist, straight-arm salute. It is the equivalent of trying to pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time. Or more to the point, it doesn't work. This isn't to say that in it's approach to Fascism the Church hierarchy didn't bend, but between them and the Fascists, they just could not figure out which "god" to whom they were paying homage. That scene alone is worth the whole film.
