Ay, Carmela

By 1990, with democracy consolidated and the falsified history inherited from Francoism rewritten, Spanish cinema enjoyed greater freedom in its portrayals of the war. The focus was no longer so much on historical events as on the depiction of mindsets and emotional wounds, often through stories in which humor plays a role—as seen already in The Heifer (1985). In the case of Ay, Carmela, it would be more accurate to speak of a costumbrista tragicomedy or even grotesque satire (esperpento).

To begin with, the film draws its strength from José Sanchís Sinisterra’s acclaimed play. Along with José Luis Alonso de Santos, Francisco Nieva, Luis Riaza, Antonio Gala, and theater groups such as Els Joglars, Dagoll-Dagom, La Fura dels Baus, and Els Comediants, Sanchís Sinisterra was one of the key figures in the renewal of Spanish theater during the democratic period. The play has a metatheatrical tone that invites reflection on the role of theater as a political agent and a vehicle for historical memory. This is carried over into the film’s climactic sequence, when Paulino is momentarily stunned and the sound of a projector transforms the theatrical stage into a cinematic space. 

Carmela and Paulino are traveling vaudeville performers who, by mistake, cross from Republican-held territory into an area controlled by the National-Catholics. They are forced to abandon their tributes to the Republic and instead perform a farcical show praising Franco. However, Carmela cannot bear the behavior of the Francoists—especially their treatment of captured foreign volunteers and the executions—and she disrupts the show to denounce the situation, putting an end to the manipulation endured by the performers. The fragility of the Spanish people in the face of war and, above all, intolerant fascism is condensed in the humble theater of these itinerant actors. The character who is mute due to war trauma—added by screenwriters Rafael Azcona and Carlos Saura—further emphasizes the vulnerability of these performers, who are always at the mercy of a potentially cruel audience, or powerless to stand by their convictions. Other notable changes from Sanchís Sinisterra’s play are the addition of the character Gustavete and the chronological reordering of the narrative, eliminating the flashback of Carmela’s death.

The stage play had already enjoyed a significant run, and the film attracted nearly a million viewers and won thirteen Goya Awards, the most prestigious honors in Spanish cinema.

JLSN