Joris Ivens: The Spanish Earth (1937)

(http://theendofcinema.blogspot.com/2011/12/spanish-earth.html)

The Spanish Earth (Tierra de España), made in 1937 by Joris Ivens, with a remarkable team of screenwriters: Lilian Hellman authored the story based on which John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway wrote the English narration (read in voice-off by Orson Welles - then Hemingway decided to use his own voice, replacing Wells, who remained credited, though). Jean Renoir wrote the French version of the narration. Hemingway and Dos Passos will broke their friendship later, as their life experiences will lead them to very different political views. But by that time all of them were very committed and this documentary about the Spanish Civil War is obviously totally partisan.

I found in Senses of Cinema an interesting remark about this movie: Ivens would return frequently in his films to man’s relationship with the land, and to water and irrigation. For some critics it is a major theme, and Ivens is sometimes seen less as a political filmmaker than a sort of frustrated nature poet. However, as in The Spanish Earth, the land and the water are frequently political in Ivens’ cinema, they are part of the struggle.

The Spanish Earth (1937): Part 1/6
(video by femalerevolution)

The Spanish Earth (1937): Part 2/6
(video by femalerevolution)

The Spanish Earth (1937): Part 3/6
(video by femalerevolution)

The Spanish Earth (1937): Part 4/6
(video by femalerevolution)

The Spanish Earth (1937): Part 5/6
(video by femalerevolution)

The Spanish Earth (1937): Part 6/6
(video by femalerevolution)

(Joris Ivens)


(Hemingway)