Una Pasion Singular

Starring:Freire, Diego, Membrillo
Studio: Venevision
Product Type: DVD

Description

With an exceptional production value, this controversial film shows the brutal reality that several families had to deal with many years ago. Blas Infante, a brave man who tried fighting for other people's rights towards a better life, sacrificed his own freedom and his own life. August 1936, in the darkness, the overcrowding, the terrible days of these fratricidal struggles, the thwarted lives and hopes, in the midst of all these shadows, in conceptual counterpoint, the brilliance of a series of scenes of meticulous expressiveness appears, free from the slavery imposed by time and space and also free from the brutal separation between reality and the imaginary. This is an overall view not just of Blas Infante but also of his time and everything he dedicated his life to!

Customer Reviews:

"My patriotism is for the human race.".......2006-07-19

Based on the true story of Blas Infante, the Spanish film "Una Pasion Singular" explores the life of the man known as "the father of Andalucia." The film begins with the arrest of the upper class, middle aged, Blas Infante (Daniel Freire) and his subsequent imprisonment during the Spanish Civil War. As Infante's wife Angustias (Marisol Membrillo) struggles with the authorities to get her husband freed, flashbacks depict their meeting and early courtship. Infante and his wife are depicted as individuals with vastly opposed value systems. Infante is devoted to the notion of a separate, autonomous Andulucia, and agrarian reform that includes "returning the land to the peasants" but Angustias, the daughter of wealthy elites, is used to a life of privilege. Infante courts and marries Angustias and they both secretly hold the idea that they can 'change' the ethics of the other if given time and proximity of marriage.

Through flashbacks, the film shows Infante, who designed the Andulucian flag and wrote the national song, at various meetings organizing political strategy. Other scenes depict Infante offering his legal services to the disenfranchised peasants at no charge. These scenes of political, and social involvement are contrasted with scenes of conflict with Angustias. She was born to a privileged life, and she fails to understand why life shouldn't continue on in the same manner. Disagreements about money, and Infante's devotion to the cause lead to bitter arguments.

The scenes involving Infante's fate at the hand of Franco's brutal system of repression are very well done. The film does an excellent job of depicting the arbitrary cold brutality of the system--men taken out of the jail by night and shot, men taken on journeys by guards from which they never return. One of the most powerful scenes occurs when Infante is taken to a makeshift prison. The door opens and as Infante's sight adjusts to the dim light, the room is seen to hold hundreds of men in various attitudes of despair as they await their fate. In this hideous makeshift facility, there are no trials, and there is no justice. Guards arrive periodically to take the despondent men away to their doom.

The contrasting flashback scenes of Infante's relationship with his wife are not as powerful, and they tend to distract from the much more interesting story of Infante's social and political beliefs. If, however, you are interested in Spanish history, the Spanish Revolution, or the tyranny unleashed in Franco's Spain, then "Una Pasion Singular" is worth catching. Directed by Antonio Gonzalo, the film is in Spanish with English subtitles--displacedhuman

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