Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15354 in VHS
• Released on: 1999-04-20
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Original language: Catalan, English, Spanish
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 109 minutes

From The New Yorker
One of the few English-language movies to tackle the Spanish Civil War since "For Whom the Bell Tolls." It tolls this time for David, a young Liverpudlian who travels to Spain in 1936 to join the Republican cause. For the director, Ken Loach, the Fascists barely exist: what matters to him is the comradeship, the daily comedy, and the flurries of panic that unite the volunteers. Ian Hart provides a fine, fiery turn as David, toughening up a dangerously virtuous role; the plot drags him back and forth between the ragged international militia at the front and the more organized Popular Army that gradually takes charge. Over all, the film is a muddle: the earnest political confrontations and the dire romance of David and a fellow-fighter (Rosana Pastor) have only a fraction of the dramatic force that Loach delivers with his battle scenes. But those scenes are tremendous-scruffy, fractious, and rousing. When the rifles jam or backfire, you can hear a whole heroic movement beginning to tear itself apart. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

PASSION & COMPASSION IN A BITTER WAR
For most progressive-minded folks, the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) was the first salvo in the global struggle that eventually crushed facism and nazism. Yet, there was a dark side to the "good fight." Stalin cynically twisted and manipulated the "Popular Front" movement to suit his personal megalomania. He used Soviet military/financial aid to the Spanish Republic and the organizational might of the Comintern (Communist International) as the means of securing power for his lackeys in the Spanish Communist Party and, thereby, extend his sphere of influence. This power play resulted in the brutal repression and murder of many dedicated anti-facists on the Left who opposed Stalinism with equal fervor.

"Land & Freedom" beautifully tells the story of an English communist worker, who like hundreds of other young men and women from around the world, goes to Spain to fight for his principles. Yet, his experiences there teaches him a bitter lesson in political reality: those seeking absolute power, regardless of what they call themselves, are the real enemies of freedom.

This film was clearly inspired by "Homage To Catalonia," George Orwell's chronicle of his own experiences in the Spanish Civil War. Like Orwell, the film's hero joins the militia of the POUM(Spain's anti-Stalinist Marxist-Leninist party)and comes to witness first-hand the betrayal of the anti-facist struggle by the Stalinist forces.

All in all, this is a well-researched and well-written story offered up with superb acting amd directing. It was especially poignant for me as I had the privilege of knowing folks who served in the militias of the CNT-FAI, the Spanish anarchist-syndicalist labor movement. This film brought to mind their sacrifice and heroism in the face of overwhelming odds.

"Land & Freedom" is a film everyone should see.

A VERY REAL & TOUCHING HUMAN FILM ABOUT THE "GOOD FIGHT"
"Land & Freedom" is the first commericial film I've seen that doesn't offer the standard one-dimensional portrayal of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) as simply the prelude to World War II. Nor does it flinch from taking a hard look at the way that the Stalinist Communist Party undermined, betrayed and brutually suppressed their leftist political rivals in the Anti-Facist movement to secure absolute power. Here we get a glimpse of the bitter social struggle that sparked the war. Here we see, in beautifully understated dramatic realism, the humanity, selfless idealism and touching naivete of the thousands of young people from around the world that rushed to Spain to fight facism.

While the film's story is well-researched, written and presented, I think it loses viewers who are not familiar with the complex historical background of the Spanish Civil War nor the intricate ideological maze of the diverse political movements and points of view represented. "Land & Freedom" (which, by the way, was one of the slogans of the Spanish anarchist movement, the CNT-FAI, and not the Trotskyite POUM which the film's hero joins) tries to offer a comprehensive overview of the aforementioned. Unfortunately, it often comes across as a jumble of arcane acronyms and arguments.

One key point: the formation of the democratic peasant and workers collectives portrayed in the film actually took place under the auspices of the anarchist CNT-FAI (which, at the time, was the largest and most influential labor movement in Spain)and not the POUM. The Marxist POUM, while allied to the CNT-FAI, actually opposed this effort as detrimental to the creation a united anti-facist front.

This aside, "Land & Freedom" is great film. I highly recommended it.

Shot in the Back ...
In 1936 Franco and three other fascist generals, aided by Hitler and Mussolini, attempted a military coup against the democratically elected Spanish republican government. A broad political spectrum of anti-fascist groups opposed Franco. Opposition ranged from republicans, such as Ortega y Gassett, to anarchists, trades unionists, socialists, and communists. Because the army itself had revolted, people banded together to form militias to defend the freedom of their nation. The great Western "Democracies" refused to aid in this battle�they feared that power of the people. Starved for support, the republican forces received their only official aid from Mexico and the USSR. All over the world, however, idealists who believed in democracy and in the ability of people to work together for a better world, made their way to Spain to fight against International Fascism.

Land and Freedom follows the story of Dave Hart, a working-class British Communist, who leaves his girlfriend to help stop fascism. Hart does not get assigned to the International Brigade (a Stalinist Communist militia), and ends up in a militia of foreign volunteers, loosely affiliated with the POUM, a non-Stalinist Marxist group. They fight alongside anarchists and anybody else who will oppose Franco. The unit votes on matters, officers are accorded no special privileges�-the traditional hierarchical structures are absent.

In this millieu, Dave writes home about the struggle, the frustration of being poorly armed, about comradery. We watch him falling in love with Blanca, one of the other soldiers. After he is wounded, he encounters the Stalinist brigades he had hoped to join. The movie begins to tell the story of how the democratic forces of the Spanish Republic were undermined and destroyed by the Stalinist elements. This point is driven home with a vengeance.

In many ways, this movie dramatizes George Orwell's experiences in the civil war, as told in his Homage to Catalonia. Both Dave and George volunteered to fight on the Republican side, both ended up in POUM militia units, both were wounded, and both were purged and endangered by the Stalinists who gained control by deciding who to arm and who to arrest. A story line that departed from Orwell and showed us more of the "People's" revolution, showed us workers running factories for themselves, showed us campesinos collectively farming, showed us schools that taught children with dignity and respect�-such a movie would have paid more homage to the indefatigable spirit of the Spanish people and the innovative courage they showed in the face of overwhelming odds. Anarchists receive little mention in the movie, occasional footnotes at best. This is unfortunate, as some of the most interesting phenomena about the Spanish civil war center on the anarchist and syndicalist movements.

In one scene, anti-fascist forces from different parties engage in a firefight, alternately shooting at and insulting each other. This, as much as Hitler's Stukas and Mussolini's support for Franco, allowed the forces of democracy to be crushed under jackboots in Spain. Totalitarian forces have one answer, one ideology. They all march to the same drum. Free people have many ideas, many ideals, and value different solutions to problems. If people are ever to govern themselves in a way that maximizes individual liberties, this conundrum must be solved.

In Spain, the fascists won. The failure of the United States, England, and France to provide aid for the republican forces allowed Hitler and Mussolini to flex their muscles without challenge or reprisal. It does not seem unlikely that fascism may have been contained and WW II prevented had the ostensibly "Democratic" nations come to the aid of democracy in Spain.

Frequently movies have foreign nationals speaking English in a foreign accent. Land and Freedom did not do this. Individuals spoke their native tongues with native accents. When the language was not English, subtitles were added. (Although it might have been nice to have subtitles for some of the thick "English" accents!) I find this greatly preferable to speaking English with an accent�-it allows the poeia of the foreign language to add emotional character to the film that would otherwise be missing.

Currently, the movie is not available in DVD. This is unfortunate. It's the story of a powerful cusp in Western history, and the telling grips us and demands that we consider our own ideals, our own grasp of freedom, our own willingness to sit quitely by, watching Survivor Outback while our own nation experienced the coup d'etat of December 2000.

Five stars for content. Four-and-a-half stars for accuracy. Five stars for telling a gripping story that left me with tears in my eyes as the credits rolled.

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