Broken dreams. Agricultural Problem, Historical Reflection and the civil war in "Réquiem por un campesino español" (Francesc betriu, 1985)

Abstract

This paper analyses the importance fictional cinema takes on in regard to the agrarian problem in Spain concentrating on the film Réquiem por un campesino español (1985), based on the homonymous novel by J. Sender. There is no doubt that cinema is one of the most important representations of people’s collective imagination. The way it shows the past is enormously significant as it demonstrates the way in which a society sees and represents itself. It is obviously important to point out the relevance that the peasant question had throughout the entire first third of the twentieth century until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The study of this work reveals the representation of a rural society that also sees how it undergoes a series of important transformations after the establishment of the Second Republic (1931-1936), and the brutal way in which these social tensions end up being resolved as a consequence of Franco's cruel repression.