El verdugo Luis García Berlanga SPAIN, 1963 European Cinema Education PEDAGOGICAL PACKAGE for the Youth 2 I – SUMMARY I- INTRODUCTION • CinEd: a collection of flms, cinema education CINED : A FILM COLLECTION, programme p. 2 PEDAGOGY OF CINEMA • Editorial p. 3 • Technical specifcations p. 3 CinEd has joined a mission of transmitting the 7th art as a cultural object and as a support to understand the • Cinematographic considerations for a screenshot p. 5 world. For that reason it was elaborated a common pedagogy, starting from a collection of movies produced in the • Synopsis p. 5 European countries, partners to this project. The approach intends to be adapted to our era, marked by a rapid, I - OPENING major and continuously change, regarding the way of seeing, receiving and producing the images. These last are II – THE FILM viewed on a variety of screens: from the biggest – those in the halls, to the smallest – (to smartphones) ticking, of • Historical and cultural context, course, TV sets, computers and tablets screens.The cinema is still a young art whose death has been predicted by Fernando Trueba p. 6 many times. It is very clear that this didn’t happen. • The author p. 8 These changes affect the cinema, transmission must seriously take into account the manner increasingly fragmented • Collaborations: "That happy couple" of viewing movies, starting from this screen diversity. CinEd publications propose and talk about a sensitive, induc- and “Two happy couples tive, interactive and intuitive education providing knowledges, analysis tools and dialog between image and flm (or the bilingual bigamist)”, possibilities. The works are described on different levels, of course, viewed in entirely and in pieces, according to by Fernando Trueba p. 9 different temporality, fxed image, plan and sequence. • Films by Luis García Berlanga p. 10 Educational brochures invite us to take the movie with freedom and suppleness. One of the major challenges is • Selected flms by Rafael Azcona p. 10 to intelligently get the movie open – mindedly: description, essential step of any analytical enterprise, the ability to • Cinematographic infuences, extract, select, classify, compare, confront the images between movies and with the images of other performing by Javier Rebollo p. 11 and exposure arts (photography, literature, painting, theatre, comics...) The purpose is images not only to run but • Thoughts from Luis García Berlanga p. 14 to create emotions ; cinema is an artifcial art, extremely valuable for build and consolidate the vision of the young generations. III - ANALYSIS • Scene sequence p. 16 • Questions of cinema, by Pep Garrido and Bernardo Sánchez p. 20 Dossier designed by A Bao A Qu • Analysis of a screenshot. An empty white box highlighting Fernando Trueba Historical and cultural context; That happy couple and Two happy couples (or the bilingual bigamist); two punishments p. 24 Reception of the flm • Analysis of a frame. Javier Rebollo Cinematographic infuences; Comparative images; Connections with other arts Foreseeing the fnal execution Pep Garrido Questions of cinema. The script: structure and the Berlanguian arch, motives and themes or José Luis’s frst death p. 25 Bernardo Sánchez Questions of cinema. The value of spaces: highlighting anguish; Selection of texts for ‘Thoughts’ • Analysis of a sequence. Núria Aidelman and Laia Colell Editorial; Cinematographic considerations for a screenshot; Analysis of a screenshot, a An introduction that contains frame and a sequence; Comparisons with other flms; Learning activities the whole flm p. 26 CinEd España coordinators: A Bao A Qu IV - CONNECTIONS General pedagogy coordinators: La Cinémathèque française / Cinéma, cent ans de jeunesse • Comparative images, by Javier Rebollo p. 28 General coordinators: Institut français • Comparisons with other flms. The Executioner and The Copyright: / Institut français / A Bao A Qu Man Without a Past: loss of identity. The Executioner and Il posto: portraits of an era and a society. p. 32 This publication is copyrighted under Article 31 of the Law on Intellectual Property (Ley de Propiedad Intelectual) • Connections with other arts, by Javier Rebollo p. 34 as per Royal Decree 1/1998 of 12 April. • Reception of the flm, by Fernando Trueba p. 37 V – LEARNING ACTIVITIES p. 39 3 EDITORIAL TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS I - OPENING El verdugo [The Executioner] is one of the most renowned films in Spanish and European cinema. It presents the unmis- Original title: El verdugo takable work of Luis García Berlanga at its best, and his collaboration with Rafael Azcona, with whom he wrote many film Original Italian title (co-production): scripts. Costumbrist in genre, with noisy, crowded scenes, brilliantly ironic dialogue, characters bordering on loveable yet La ballata del boia grotesque, and situations that flirt with the absurd, Berlanga’s films broach the most serious subjects with a unique brand Year: 1963 of sarcasm, achieving insightful and hard-hitting social criticism with a deceptively light touch. Duration: 87 min Format: 1:1,66 As with all great works of art, The Executioner goes further than its characters and situations, its dialogues and memo- Country: Spain / Italy rable mise-en-scène, providing endless food for thought. Moreover, it shares with the classics a profound universal value while managing to remain firmly rooted in its historical context – Spain in the early 1960s, already twenty years into Director: Luis García Berlanga Francisco Franco’s fascist dictatorship, with economic development in full swing. The film is a denouncement of the death Assistant director: Ricardo Muñoz Suay penalty, but, as Berlanga himself said, it is much more than that. It is a film about freedom and the absence of freedom; Screenplay: Luis García Berlanga and Rafael Azcona about individual choice and conformism; about the violence and oppression society inflicts on individuals; it is almost a Screenwriting assistants: Ennio Flaiano dissection of what Hannah Arendt called ‘the banality of evil’. Ultimately, it is a savage, relentless reflection on the human Production company: Naga Films S.A. (Madrid) / Zebra condition. For all of these reasons, it is an absolutely necessary film today – beyond the fact that the death penalty has Films S.P.A. (Roma) been abolished in Europe – of particular relevance for younger audiences who can use it to ponder on other less visible P.C. Line producer: José Manuel M. Herrero forms of punishment and death, individual responsibility and our duty to exercise it. Photography: Tonino Delli Colli Second operator: Miguel Agudo Artistic director: José Antonio de la Guerra Editing: Alfonso Santacana Music: Miguel Asins Arbó and Adolfo Waitzman (Twist El verdugo) Sound effects: Felipe Fernández Cast: Nino Manfredi (José Luis), José Isbert (Amadeo), Emma Penella (Carmen), Ángel Álvarez (Álvarez), José Luis López Vázquez (Antonio), María Luisa Ponte (Estefanía), Guido Alberti (director de la prisión), María Isbert (Ignacia), Alfredo Landa (sacristán), Chus Lampreave (visitante del piso en construcción), Manuel Aleixandre (condenado) Spanish, Czech and Italian posters 4 Takes and cuts Social criticism I- OPENING Composition Spaces Sound as a form of expression 5 CINEMATOGRAPHIC CONSIDERATIONS FOR A SCREENSHOT SYNOPSIS by Luis García Berlanga I - OPENING COMPOSITION. On the other hand, it plays an important role in the mise- en-scène, allowing for many variations to the position The framing in The Executioner is extremely complex and José Luis is a young funeral home employee who meets of the characters as well as to the relationship between is achieved with masterful precision. Take, for example, an executioner called Amadeo during a service in a pri- them. In Amadeo and Carmen’s apartment, for example, the perfect symmetry in this shot. Depth and movement son. When he returns the bag of equipment that Amadeo there is ample potential for movement from the door, are recurring features of crucial importance. Every ele- had left behind in the van, José Luis meets the executio- through the hallway, into the living room with the table ment in the shot is significant, constantly modified through ner’s daughter Carmen. A romance quickly blossoms, but in the foreground, to the kitchen in the background, and each frame as a result of multiple changes in the position Amadeo catches the couple in bed and they are forced even to the window that opens onto the neighbours’ yard. of as well as the relationship between the characters and to marry. Every element of the set also has a function, such as the the almost continuous movement of a camera that is per- hand towel emphasising the washing of hands, and the As these events unfold, Amadeo is granted an apartment fectly in sync with the characters. We see the protagonist lamp that provides a comparison with the electric chair. for himself and the married couple, who are expecting a José Luis in the background, much reduced in size, while baby, through a state housing scheme. It comes with one the executioner father-in-law is foregrounded, yet it will SOCIAL CRITICISM condition: once he retires they must all leave the apart- be José Luis later on who moves to the foreground when Berlanga and Azcona, who co-wrote this and many other ment unless his son-in-law inherits his position and is ap- he sits at the table (symbolically taking Amadeo’s place). of Berlanga’s flms, are adept at dealing with the most pointed executioner. While initially against the idea, José serious of issues in a scathing and caustic manner, with Luis eventually accepts the post, convinced he’ll never TAKES AND CUTS. only occasional fashes of levity. In a matter of seconds, have to carry out any execution given that the death pe- any smiles that appear on the viewers’ lips are replaced nalty hasn’t been applied in many years. However, the day The Executioner could be seen as a film about taking by stunned chills. Berlanga’s and Azcona’s cinematic craft comes when he is ordered to do just that.