Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Technically, this isn’t a Sundance review, since the guy saw it somewhere else, but while we wait on those reviews to start rolling in, I thought I’d print this one. Personally, I’m interested in anything from this director. His SEX & LUCIA was not only intensely erotic, it was also a damn good mindgame that I’ve enjoyed revisiting since its initial release.
Hi Harry
This isn't exactly a Sundance review - I saw Medem's film at the London Film Festival a few months ago, but I thought you might be interested in this review.
It's from my magazine's website, www.adrenalin.com. It's a bit long so feel free to chop it about if you want to run it.
Love the site, Harry
Regards,
Chebenski
//Basque Ball Game: The Skin Against The Stone//
Julio Medem¹s ambitious documentary is a bewildering convolution of ideas. He sets out to tell the tale of the Basque conflict a century old dispute over the sovereignty of Spain¹s northern border with France, an amalgamation of four ancient kingdoms and cultures that encompasses almost three million people. The region is officially split between the French and Spanish governments, mostly the Spanish, and as such is ruled by the Popular Party in Madrid. Under Franco¹s fascist rule the Basques were subjected to widespread social and cultural prejudices, and were often treated violently. Out of this violence the Basque separatist movement emerged, spearheaded by the militant left-wing terror group, Eta. Eta¹s mandate was, and remains, complete autonomy for the Basques, and their methods of securing their aims have resulted in some 800 deaths over the last thirty five years.
//La Pelota Vasca//, to give the film it¹s original title, is one of the most controversial to be shown at this year¹s festival. Already both the Minister for Culture and the King of Spain himself have called for it to be banned, and Medem has been subjected to a torrent of criticism. PP spokesmen have condemned him for giving terrorists an equal voice to their victims, and have even likened him to Hitler¹s filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. More surprisingly, however, some Basque activists requested that Medem remove them from the final cut as they felt his film did not go far enough in portraying the injustices suffered by their society.
As an emblem of the problem in Spanish society and Medem¹s film this dual criticism is particularly apt. Simply put, the Basque conflict is so complex, and raises such ferocious passions it¹s almost impossible not to feel lost as the film progresses. Medem makes few concessions for anybody with a shaky grip on Spain¹s cultural and political history, and in a bid to get to the root of the issues his chosen subjects are a titanic intellectual array of philosphers, socio-pyschologists and politicians. Their highbrow take on the subject matter requires some serious brow furrowing to keep up with.
Furthermore, the extent of the violence perpetrated by Eta is perplexing, as is the language in which they cloak it. Contrary to expectations, their victims are often as not Basque as nationalists. Anybody who challenges their rhetoric is a target, even people who support their aims but not their methods. Likewise, the very notion of nationalism changes with its context, referring equally to Basques or Spanish depending on who¹s telling the story.
Despite this, that story is rarely less than compelling. As far as he is able, Medem approaches the conflict with a measure of objectivity. The problem as it is presented to us by the few moderate factions is that the question of Basque identity is an age-old, impossibly slippery concept that has been hijkacked and polarised by militants and politicians to create a high-stakes political game in which ordinary citizens are suffering. The Basque country is characterised by fear both of the future and what could happen to their culture, but also of the present, and what could happen to them should they speak out against the violence. In Madrid, however, the Popular Party uses the violence as an easy vote-winner, while, astonishingly, maintaining the official line that there is no political conflict. To aid this delusion they outlawed their left-wing opponents, thereby removing the possibility of true dialogue and adding further fuel to the militants¹ flames. Unofficially, though, they continue to fight a dirty war against the terrorists, and are accused in the film by an Amnesty International aid worker of employing physical and psychological torture including the rape of female captives and the incarceration of prisoners hundreds of miles from their families.
There are few rays of light in the film. The middle ground the fruitful arena in which Basques are allowed to express their own, personal ideals of self-definition and identity is conspicuously denied to them. Furthermore, Medem reveals a racist edge to the conflict as the separatist movement gathered steam in the wake of mass immigration to the region to take advantage of its industrialisation at the turn of the century.
Ultimately, however, it¹s not unremittingly bleak. The most notable sign of hope is found in a young Basque who was targetted by Eta for leading a moderate student movement. He lost a leg in a car bombing but speaks eloquently of the need for reconciliation and peace. So too does an Irish priest, a veteran of the Northern Ireland peace negotiations to which this conflict bears more than a passing resemblance who talks of the mantle that the Church must accept, moving away from its blatant politicisation of recent years.
Stylistically the film is a mixed bag. Most evocatively Medem punctuates his interviews with some stirring footage of this territory that people are prepared to kill for. The Basques are blessed with a beautiful landscape, and, tellingly, many are interviewed against naturalistic backdrops. More damaging, however, is the director¹s editing idiosyncracy of cross cutting between interviewees telling different aspects of the same point. When that point is something as obtuse as the anthropological sociology of the region, or the history of the ancient kingdom of Navarro, it¹s a disconcerting trick that makes the information that much harder to digest.
Despite, or perhaps because of, this stylisation, coupled with the
byzantine
and nakedly emotional subject matter, Medem¹s film is an engrossing and
informative document of the struggle. It¹s an important, inclusive study
of
a violent history that has been prolonged by its exclusive, narrow-minded
factionalisation. And in the context of this unrelenting violence, it¹s
also
a brave film an all too rare voice of conciliation surrounded by people
who seem determined to draw more blood.
Thanks, man. I’ll definitely want to check this out as soon as possible.
"Moriarty" out.
