Spain's political immaturity
Ernesto Gómez
Two political satires that show how in times of political turmoil, the average citizen always keeps an eye on money. Two ironic movies with a dark, scathing sense of humour that take no prisoners, where politics blends with love, and love clouds ideologies.
Under Franco, Spanish filmmakers realized that they could use comedy to make political commentaries, since comedy was a popular genre with no apparent political motives. Some of the greatest films in Spanish history are comedies. However, political satires were not limited to the dictatorship: the genre peaked during the Transition and is still frequently used nowadays.
Contemporary film no longer criticise the regime and instead shine a light on the lack of political and emotional maturity in Spanish society.
Selfie (Víctor García León, 2017) portrays the paradigm shift brought by the grassroots 15-M Movement, when politics seemed to actually have an impact on Spanish society. It also show the other side of the story, and how Spaniards were not ready to get into politics. They are overwhelmed by ideals, and resort to getting rich and taking advantage of the situation, which seems to be the only thing common to all ideologies.
Tigres de papel (Paper Tigers, Fernando Colomo, 1977) portrays how people understood politics in the 1970s after the arrival of democracy. It reveals the contradictions of those youngsters who, for the first time in a very long time, experienced freedom and had to live up to the circumstances and be modern, even though they were ill equiped to understand modernity. This generation is all talk and no action. They seem to run out of steam, babbling their way through events, and forget to be present.
