History Alive

 

As much as I love history, be it a course, a book, or even most documentaries, what I miss is the personal stories of the people who lived through those times. 

It was one thing to be a crusader marching with King Louis or Richard the Lionhearted to free what we call the Middle East from the heathens for Christ (or riches), but how seasick were they crossing the Med? 

When food and supplies did not arrive, did their hopes of riches make them wish they had stayed on their farms despite their obligations to their lord and/or king? Did they want to get back to their families, or were they happy to be freed from the tedium of everyday life?

The documentary La Promesse de Franco, showed in our recently renovated village theater located 75 steps from our front door, did go into that depth.

The opening scene was the remains of a centuries-old village  enveloped in an Impressionist-like painting fog.

An old man, his life written on his face in wrinkles, sits alone outside, speaking in Spanish about his life in the village prior to the Spanish Civil War  (1936-1939). French subtitles translate. He tells how his house had been the largest.

The politics, the Republicans against Franco, left against right, seem no different from what is happening in 2025.  

In between old photos of war battles and peasant scenes, other old people told their stories. In some photos, helmeted soldiers, guns ready to kill, advance.

One woman, a widow for three years, said she was 83, my age now. Since the film was made in 2013, I assume she is dead. She sat in an upholstered chair giving insight of a home.

A thin, white curtain blows through an open window revealing the tiled roof of a house across a narrow street.

Franco builds a village nearby to the destroyed one, giving houses free to those who were loyal to him. He comes to the inauguration and is greeted with cheers. Later the King of Spain visits.

Daily life is told by the middle age residents. We see a choir of women rehearsing, another woman drags her shopping cart, children play. 

There is a statue in the middle of the new town. 

Then school children are asked about the old village. They know almost nothing.

The director, who was present to answer questions, said he deliberately chose to tell the story through the ages of people in reverse, old to young. It is a statement of past, present, future.

There was a major problem with the new village -- there was practically no access to water in the drought-suffering area. Today, the new village is almost deserted, although some people live there with minimal shops.

The director said when the film was shown in the new village after it was first made, the 2013 screening was in the basement of the town hall. Mostly old people who had lived through the war, wanted to attend but the stairs were too much for them and the elevator was broken.

Notes: The film was financed by KissKissBankBank which finances creative projects by crowd funding but has mixed reviews on the bank. 

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