The Sanctuary Does Not Surrender

The director of this film, Arturo Ruiz-Castillo, had a Republican past. He had been a close collaborator of Federico García Lorca in his cultural project La Barraca. There are subtle hints of these antecedents in certain moments of the film which, despite its manicheistic perspective and reliance on stock phrases and tropes of Francoist discourse, does not openly insult the Republicans.

The narrative thread of the story are the memories of Marisa (Beatriz de Añara), the main female protagonist, as she returns—after the end of the Civil War—to the Sanctuary of Santa María de la Cabeza (near Andújar) to place flowers on the tomb of Civil Guard Captain Santiago Cortés (Tomás Blanco). She then begins to recall how, in the spring of 1936, she had come to Jaén from Madrid with her father, who is a count (though at times they are referred to as marquises), to visit the family estate. Although the weather was beautiful and the Civil Guard had treated them courteously at a roadside checkpoint, there were already dark clouds on the horizon. Marisa recalls “a certain unrest” in society, giving as an example that only one servant came out to greet them upon arrival. Shortly afterward, a group of agitated peasants tried to enter the estate but were dissuaded by a leftist notary, Luis de Aracil (Alfredo Mayo).

The outbreak of the Civil War triggers a revolution. Militiamen storm the count’s estate and murder him, while Luis saves Marisa’s life by taking her to the sanctuary. There, around 1,200 people—Civil Guards, right-wingers, and their families—had gathered under the command of Captain Cortés. The place is immediately besieged by the Republicans. Luis can no longer return to his side and—more or less against his will—ends up staying to defend the position, gradually changing his political convictions in the process. In this context, an improbable love develops between Marisa and Luis, one that is also doomed to a tragic end, as Luis is wounded—apparently fatally—during the final moments of the Republican assault on the sanctuary.

The film significantly distorts the real history of the event. For example, contrary to what it portrays, the sanctuary was not in open rebellion. Nor was it immediately besieged; that came in mid-September 1936, only two months after the war began, when Captain Cortés halted the evacuation of its occupants as ordered by the Republican authorities. He also proceeded to arrest his superior officer as well as several militiamen and police officers. These individuals, who do not appear in the film, remained captives throughout the entire siege. The film also claims, as seen in the still accompanying this text, that members of the International Brigades took the sanctuary (the troops who storm it are shown speaking French), but in reality, only mixed brigades of the Republican army, which were composed entirely of Spaniards, took part in the assault.

Although the siege of the sanctuary ended on 1 May 1937, and was a defeat for the Francoists, the film ends with a celebration of Franco’s famous victory communiqué, read by Fernando Fernández de Córdoba on 1 April 1939.