Alsasua 1936
1994 · 33m · España
Directed by Helena Taberna
Genres: drama, historical, war
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
A recreation of events in the working-class town of Alsasua during the Civil War shows the Church's position in the conflict through the eyes of the young parish priest, who perceives the deep pain of a cruel war between brothers.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Everyone wants the priest to wrestle with ideology, but Taberna just lets him *feel*—which is somehow more subversive than any sermon scene could be. The refusal to make this about righteous suffering is the real provocation.
A formally austere historical meditation that locates itself squarely in the Spanish cinema tradition of Civil War reckoning, where restraint and witness become moral acts; the 33-minute duration feels like a considered choice, not a limitation.
The entire film hinges on Taberna's decision to shoot the priest's face mostly in profile or half-light—a single formal choice that turns his witnessing into genuine estrangement rather than convenient moral clarity.