Pedro Almodóvar: "Spanish society has an enormous moral debt with the families of the disappeared"

From this Wednesday, the Venice festival knows much more about the Spanish historical memory and the Civil War.

Because it is one of the key themes of

, the new film by Pedro Almodóvar, which opened the 78th edition of the contest with applause in the early morning passes. And because the press conference of the film has offered a master class on the matter. "Spanish society has a huge moral debt with the families of the disappeared," said the director, as blunt in his statements to the press as in the film, launching a powerful plea in favor of the search and exhumation of so many thousands of bodies buried "in pits and gutters." Some 114,000, according to a count, years ago, by judge Baltasar Garzón, although some estimates even exceed 150,000. The second country in the world, after Cambodia, with more murdered people scattered where no one can watch over them. "After 85 years,until this debt to the disappeared is paid, we cannot close our recent history, and what happened in the Civil War ”, added the filmmaker.

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A priori

, actually,

It is the story of two women. But, deep down, it also speaks of ancestors and descendants, of historical and personal memory. Janis (Penelope Cruz) searches for her grandfather, buried in a mass grave at the beginning of the Civil War. And, meanwhile, a casual intercourse with an exhumation expert is granted. With an ellipsis, sometimes, the cinema knows how to tell everything. First frame: two naked and intertwined bodies. Next: hospital, maternity service. There, waiting for her daughter, Janis forges another bond: Ana (Milena Smit), her roommate. They meet a 40-year-old woman, a veteran of difficulties, prepared for an unexpected gift, and a frightened young woman, who instead of a dream faces a trauma. Both single, and alone. Until a series of vicissitudes unite them forever.

“Now I am more interested in imperfect mothers, those who go through difficult periods to resolve. The previous mothers in my films were different, they came from the education I received ”, added the filmmaker. Specifically, of his own mother, Francisca Caballero, and of the women who surrounded little Pedro when his mother had to leave him in a courtyard to take care of the house or the field. There, while they washed and hung the clothes, arranged objects and problems, sang and told stories, the neighbors inspired, in some way, the cinema that that boy would end up shooting. “The more the Penelope character got complicated, the more interested me. It was a first for me. But according to my experience with real mothers, there are very different types, and some do not have maternal instincts ”, Almodóvar assured.

"It may be my most difficult character so far," has conceded Cruz. “There are very few directors who give their actors and crew that much time. He works with the system that I respect and value the most, he is a craftsman. Few are left in the world. And for me that is gold. You see a man willing to give his life for the movie. Try to get all the truth that we have. It was hard, but magical and precious ”, he explained. And Smit has argued that this role was probably "the most beautiful gift" he had ever received.

Questions from the press, however, returned the spotlight to historical memory. And the filmmaker went into details. “It is the generation of grandchildren and great-grandchildren that is asking for the exhumation. That greatly surprised the UN rapporteurs who came to Spain in 2014. The explanation is simple: the previous generation was very afraid, that it prevented them from speaking. I lived it in my house ”. And when speaking of Lorca, evoked in the film through

Almodóvar added: “His figure shows that our society does not have a good relationship with our immediate history. And neither does the cinema. It has taken a lot of work to make films about ETA or another problem that has affected us as a whole ”.

There is another evocation in the film, much more explicit. Because former president Mariano Rajoy comes out with his name and surname, and with a phrase that Almodóvar has not forgotten: “In presenting the budgets, he said, full of pride, that he had dedicated 'zero euros' to historical memory. One of the advantages of cinema is that it survives what we do and those who see it and he will be eternally linked, at least in this film, to this harmful phrase ". "Spain is very tense, and its political class more than ever. This is a reflection of the fact that there is a party that says things that have never been said, that normally already falls into illegality, into the unconstitutional. We have never seen political professionals who behave with such vulgarity and in such a low way, "said Almodóvar.