Syllabus

Introduction (PowerPoint)

Films

• Luis Buñuel: Chien andalou (1928; 16 min) and Tierra sin pan (Land Without Bread, 1933; 30 min)

Readings

• Nuria Triana-Toribio, Spanish National Cinema: “Introduction” (1-13)” and “Cinema in Spain from 1896 – 1939″ (Chap 2; 14-27 only).
• Reviews

Other resources

• Luis Buñuel:
  • Chronology
  • In context (a pdf summarizing the main points highlighted to be discussed in today’s class)
• Spanishness and the españolada / La españolidad y la españolada:
  • Film adaptations of La verbena de la Paloma (Benito Perojo, 1935 – 1’50” and José Luis Saenz de Heredia, 1963 – 2’57”)
  • Imperio Argentina dancing and singing “Los Piconeros” in Carmen, La de Triana (Florián Rey, 1935)

Feature film

• Luis Buñuel, Los olvidados (The Young and the Damned, 1950; 77 min)

Readings

• José Luis Borau, “Prologue: The Long March of the Spanish Cinema towards Itself,” in Peter Evans, Spanish Cinema: The Auteurist Tradition (xvii-xxii).
• Stephen Crofts, “Concepts of National Cinema,” in John Hill and Pamela Church Gibson, editors. World Cinema: Critical Approaches (Chap. 1, 1-10).
• Reviews of Los olvidados

Other resources

• Luis Buñuel in context (PowerPoint in Moodle)
•  A brief dictionary of shots (planos) used by Luis Buñuel

Feature film

• Luis Buñuel, Viridiana (1961; 90 min; Warning: Sexual violence – 01:24:00)

Readings

• Peter Besas, Behind the Spanish Lens: “Bardem, Berlanga and Buñuel into the Breach” (Chap. 3; 48-51).
• Reviews of Viridiana

Other resources

• The History of Cutting – The Soviet Theory of Montage: Building on the works of D.W. Griffith and the development of “continuity editing” in early film history, Soviet silent filmmakers would pioneer new innovative ideas about editing that moved film from an extension of theater into a mature and powerful artistic medium.  Montage theory was very influential in the 1950s and 60s, when such film artists as Alfred Hitchcock and the French new wave (nouvelle vague) directors refined and developed montage further. Where might we see the echoes of this technique in Buñuel’s Viridiana?
• A supplementary page with images from Viridiana

Film excerpts

• Excerpts – José Luis Saenz de Heredia, Raza (1942); Carlos Arévalo: ¡Harka! (1941); Juan de Orduña, A mi legión (1942)

Readings

• “The Years of Misery” in Peter Besas, Behind the Spanish Lens (Chap. 2, 17-30).

Other resources

• Alternate ending to Los olvidados

Feature film

• Luis Buñuel, El ángel exterminador (Exterminating Angel, 1962; 95 min)

Assignment

• Review 1 (submit via Moodle according to instructions posted there)

Other resources

• A statue of the “Exterminating angel” (1895) by the Spanish Modernist sculptor José Llimona i Bruguera (1864-1934) presides over the cemetery in the town of Comillas, in Cantabria, Spain (northern coast). This angel is known by the Hebrew name Abbadon, the angel of apolyptic destruction, who rules over a bottomless pit and commands an army of locusts in the final books of the New Testament, the Book of Revelations (or Apocalypse).
• A supplementary page with images from El ángel exterminador (Exterminating Angel)

Feature film

• Luis García Berlanga, ¡Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall! (Welcome Mr. Marshall!, 1953; 78 min)

Readings

• “Bardem, Berlanga and Buñuel into the Breach” in Peter Besas, Behind the Spanish Lens (Chap. 3; 31-44).
• Wendy Rolph, “¡Bienvenido Mr Marshall! (Berlanga, 1952),” in Peter Evans, Spanish Cinema: The Auteurist Tradition (8-18).
• Reviews of ¡Bienvenido Mr Marshall!

Other resources

• Luis Berlanga in context (powerpoint)
• A supplementary page with images from ¡Bienvenido Mr. Marshall! (Welcome Mr. Marshall!)

Film excerpts (see Moodle for instructions concerning this material)

• Excerpts – Juan de Orduña, Alba de América (1951) and Locura de amor (1950); Berlanga,  El verdugo (1963)
• Excerpts – Bardem, Calle mayor (1956; Main Street); José Antonio Nieves Conde, Surcos (1951; Furrows)

Readings

• Triana-Toribio, Spanish National Cinema: “A constant concern for the popular classes, 1939-62″ (Chap. 3; 38-69).
• Stephen Roberts, “In Search of a New Spanish Realism: Bardem’s Calle Mayor (1956),” in Peter Evans, Spanish Cinema: The Auteurist Tradition (19-37).

Other resources

• Definition of españolada in the Historical Dictionary of Spanish Cinema

Feature film

• Juan Antonio Bardem, Muerte de un ciclista (Death of a Cyclist, 1955; 88 min)

Readings

• Review of Death of a Cyclist.

Other resources

• A supplementary page with images from Muerte de un ciclista (Death of a Cyclist)

Assignment

• Analysis 1 (timed, to be completed through Moodle, according to instructions posted there)

Feature film

• Carlos Saura, Cría cuervos (Cría, 1975; 110 min)

Readings

• “Saura and the Wolves” in Peter Besas, Behind the Spanish Lens (Chap. 9; 117-128).
• Reviews of Cria cuervos

Other resources

• Carlos Saura study guide

Feature excerpts

• Excerpts and commentary – Saura, La caza (The Hunt, 1965); José Luis Borau, Furtivos (Poachers, 1975)

Readings

• “Poaching on Franco” in Peter Besas, Behind the Spanish Lens (Chap. 10; 133-142).
• “For and against Franco’s Spain, 1962-1982″ in Triana-Toribio, Spanish National Cinema (Chap. 4, 70-84; 95-100).

Feature film

• Víctor Erice, El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive, 1973; 95 min)

Readings

• “Saura and the Wolves” in Peter Besas, Behind the Spanish Lens (Chap. 9; 128-132).
• Paul Julian Smith, “Between Metaphysics and Scientism: Rehistoricizing Víctor Erice’s El espíritu de la colmena (1973),” in Peter Evans, Spanish Cinema: The Auteurist Tradition (93-114).
• Reviews of The Spirit of the Beehive

Other resources

• A supplementary page with images from El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive)
• Víctor Erice study guide

Feature film

• Mario Camus, Los santos inocentes (The Holy Innocents, 1984; 107 min)

Readings

• “How to ‘Reconquer’ Signs of Identity, 1982-89” in Triana-Toribio, Spanish National Cinema (Chap. 5, 108 – 132).
• Reviews of The Holy Innocents

Other resources

• A supplementary page with notes and images from Los santos inocentes (The Holy Innocents)
• Mario Camus study guide
• Spain’s transition to democracy (PowerPoint with audio commentary)

Feature film

• Icíar Bollain, Te doy mis ojos (Take My Eyes, 2003; 109 min; Warning: Gender abuse and violence)

Other resources

• Icíar Bollain study guide
• A supplementary page with images from Te doy mis ojos (Take My Eyes)

Assignment

• Review 2 (submit via Moodle)

Feature film

• Vicente Aranda, Amantes (1990; 103 min; Warning: Sex and Nudity)

Readings

• Reviews of Amantes

Other resources

• Vicente Aranda study guide
• A supplementary page with images from Amantes

Analysis 2: Cinema and Democracy (see Moodle)

Feature film

• Pedro Almodóvar, ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (What Have I Done to Deserve This?, 1984; 101 min)

Readings

• Núria Triana-Toribio, “¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (Almodóvar, 1984),” in Peter Evans, Spanish Cinema: The Auteurist Tradition (226-241).
• Susan Sontag, “Notes on camp“
• Jean Baudrillard, Culture and Simulacra (summary)

Other resources

• A supplementary page with images from ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (What Have I Done To Deserve This?) and from other related sources
• Pedro Almodóvar (“What have I done…”) study guide
• Pedro Almódovar in context: A timeline

Feature film

• Pedro Almodovar, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 1988; 90 min)

Readings

• Reviews of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Other resources

• A supplementary page with images from Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown)
• Pedro Almodóvar (“Women on the Verge”) study guide

Feature film

• Pedro Almodóvar, Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother, 1999; 101 min)

Readings

• “Spanish Cinema of the 1900s Onwards” in Triana-Toribio, Spanish National Cinema (Chap. 6, 143-163).
• Reviews of All About My Mother
• Pedro Almodóvar (“All About My Mother”) study guide

Other resources

• A supplementary page with images from Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother)

Feature film

• Pedro Almodóvar, Volver (2004; 121 min)

Readings

• Reviews of Volver
• A supplementary page with images from Volver

Analysis 3: Pedro Almodóvar’s auteurism (see moodle)

Feature film

• Isabel Coixet, La vida secreta de las palabras (The Secret Life of Words, 2005; 115 min)

Other resources

• A supplementary page with images from La vida secreta de las palabras (The Secret Life of Words)
• Study guide for Isabel Coixet

Feature film

• Alejandro Amenábar, Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes, 1997; 117 min)

Other resources

• A supplementary page with images from Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes)
• Study guide for Alejandro Amenábar

Feature film

• Alex de la Iglesia, La comunidad (Common Wealth, 2000; 105 min)

Other resources

• A supplementary page with images from La comunidad (Common Wealth)
• Study guide for Alex de la Iglesia

Feature film

• Guillermo del Toro, El Laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth, 2006; 118 min)

Other resources

• Study guide for Guillermo del Toro

Analysis 4: The Problematics of Seeing in Contemporary Spanish Cinema (see Moodle)

Term paper (optional): Reality and Representation in Spanish Cinema (submit no later than May 17 via Moodle)