|
San Sebastian festival tackles ETA in film which divides critics
2008-09-23
SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AFP) - The armed campaign by the Basque separatist group ETA came to the San Sebastian film festival Tuesday with the screening of "Shot in the Head", a film which had critics sharply divided. The third feature of Spanish director Jaime Rosales had been anxiously awaited at the festival in the Basque city following the news of three ETA car-bombings in Spain at the weekend, which left one soldier dead and 11 people wounded. "Tiro en la cabeza", ("Shot in the Head"), filmed in just two weeks, tells the true life story of two Spanish policeman who were killed by ETA gunmen in southwest France last December. "I wanted to show that there is nothing more absurd than people killing each other for ideological reasons. It is a film about the absurdity of violence," Rosales told a news conference. But the filmmaker took a huge risk in deciding to shoot to the film without any dialogue at all. The viewer can see the characters speaking, but only hears the background noises, mostly cars, in a novel technique that left many frustrated, even bored. Rosales shows the "normal" life of a member of ETA, Ion, played by a Basque actor, Ion Arretxe, with his family, but which ends when he kills one of the policeman with a shot to the head. The film left journalists at the festival divided, with some criticizing his "ambiguous" vision of the Basque problem and over-sympathetic portrayal of the ETA killer, and others hailing his courage in taking an artistic risk. The director defended the film by saying he "simply wanted to bring new ideas." Another competition entry, "Louise-Michel", Tuesday brought some light relief to the festival. In the film, French filmmakers Gustave Kervern and Benoit Delepine plunge the viewer into the absurd world of a factory in northern France, where a group of employees who have been laid off decide to take their revenge on the boss. Nine of the 15 films in the competition have now been shown, with US director Jonathan Demme overseeing the jury that will announce the winner of the Golden Shell award on Saturday. Others still to come include South Korean director Kim Ki-duk's "Bi mong/Dream" and Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-Eda's "Aruitemo, Aruitemo/Still Walking." Last year, the jury headed by American author Paul Auster awarded the Golden Shell to Hong Kong director Wayne Wang for "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers."
| 
