Raza (film)
| Raza | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | José Luis Sáenz de Heredia |
| Written by | Francisco Franco (novel), Antonio Román |
| Starring | Alfredo Mayo |
| Music by | Manuel Parada |
| Cinematography | Heinrich Gärtner |
| Edited by |
Eduardo García Maroto Bienvenida Sanz |
| Distributed by |
Cancilleria del Consejo de la Hispanidad Ballesteros |
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Release date
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Running time
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113 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
Raza (English: Race) is a 1942 Spanish semi-autobiographical war film directed by José Luis Sáenz de Heredia. It is based on a novel by Francisco Franco under the pseudonym of "Jaime de Andrade."
The film won the Prize of the National Syndicate of Spectacle.
The film tells the story of four siblings, Isabel, Pedro, Jose and Jaime, children of the ship captain Pedro Churruca and descendants of Cosme Damián Churruca, "the most wise and courageous sailor of his time." Their father, emulating his illustrious ancestor, dies at the beginning of the film in Cuba, which is still a Spanish colony, in a suicide mission against the United States Navy. Before leaving for martyrdom, however, Pedro was doing his best to convey to his children the inherent spirit in the family name, Churruca, which is the spirit of the Almogávares: "elected warriors, the best representatives of the Spanish race: firm fighters, agile and determined in manoeuvres. "
Since his early childhood, Jose has displayed that Almogávar spirit. The same cannot be said for Pedro, in whom we see a constant lust for money and a tendency to lie and cheat. Isabel, for her part, is a model child. Jose goes, like his father, into a military career. Isabel marries a soldier. Pedro, unlike his brother, becomes a deputy Republican and requires his share of the family inheritance quickly, to cover the costs of his political career. The fourth child, Jaime – still a baby when his father died – joins a religious order as a priest.
Civil war breaks out. Isabel is with her husband in the Nationalist area. Pedro and Jose are in the embattled Republican Madrid. Pedro has risen to an important post, apparently in the Ministry of Defence. Jose is captured as a result of his activities as a fifth columnist and sentenced to death, a sentence that his brother, Pedro, worried about himself, does not intend to revoke. Jose was shot by a platoon of ill-spoken and unshaven militiamen, but, by some miracle, he survives. Moved, by a woman who loves him, to the clinic of a doctor who is in favour of Franco, his wounds heal and he acquires a new identity that will allow him to move around the area. Unfortunately, his brother, Friar Jaime, is captured by anarchist militiamen in Barcelona, a Republican area. He is shot dead, along with the other friars, by a mob of militiamen who attack and destroy the convent. He has the opportunity to save himself by invoking the name of his brother, Pedro (who has been assigned to Barcelona), but true to his surname and his brothers in religion, refuses any privilege.
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Wikipedia