Memoria e identità nel paese della violenza: l’immagine della Spagna e degli Italiani in Spagna nel cinema italiano del dopoguerra (1948-2000)

Abstract

Memory and identity in the country of violence: the image of Spain in post-war Italian cinema (1948-2000)

From Sin novedad en el Alcázar, filmed in Spain by Genina in 1940, till Amnesia, filmed by Gabriele Salvatores, Italian filmakers drawed most of their Spanish sketches exploring violence and mixing XIX century myths (bullfighting, gypsies, flamenco music, etc.) with contemporary historical patterns (poorness, Cold war, ETA terrorism, holidays industry). Quite far from the serial mainstream of the Spanish-Italian coproductions (horror and western B-movies), our corpus, including some brilliant parodies of the famous comedian Totò and various indipendent and art films, as Antonioni’s Professione reporter and Pontecorvo’s Ogro, offers a perfect mirror of the conflicts produced in both countries by a modernization never completely achieved.