Land and freedom

Ken Loach’s Land and Freedom tells the fictional story of the British man Dave Carr and his fight in support of the Spanish Republic and against fascism. The film begins with his death, as an old man, after being found by his granddaughter. Among her grandfather’s belongings, the young woman becomes intrigued by a suitcase containing English-language newspaper clippings, photographs, a red scarf with traces of soil, and letters to his girlfriend. The film seeks to transmit the memory of the Civil War experience from one generation to the next through the letters that tell Dave’s story. The protagonist’s voice-over serves as a device to transition into the past. Within this docu-fiction, the black-and-white images support the sense of the “authenticity” of the memories from the very beginning of the film.

In Spain, Dave joins the poorly armed POUM militia. After being wounded at the front, Dave returns from the hospital to find the Republican army undergoing restructuring. The film depicts the debates among different sectors of the Republican side regarding the priorities of the moment: whether to focus exclusively on military victory or to carry out the revolution at the same time. Loach emphasizes the contrast between the well-equipped International Brigades supported by Stalin and the POUM militiamen, who assert their independence, their freedom, and their commitment to the revolution. Dave experiences this conflict firsthand, finding it difficult to understand.

This kind of recovery of memory revealed the internal difficulties the Republic faced in organizing the fight against fascism and sparked a controversial reading of historical memory in Spain. The British filmmaker reopened the wound of division within the Republican side, in contrast to the anti-communist uniformity of the Francoist side. This was reflected, for example, in a fierce debate in the newspaper El País, involving some of the period’s protagonists, such as Santiago Carrillo, former leader of the Communist Party, and Wilebaldo Solano, a member of the POUM. Ken Loach also emphasized in press interviews the importance of debating this period in order to reflect on the present. In fact, the film ends with the protagonist’s granddaughter at his funeral, raising her fist and taking up his legacy.

PF