Tiro en la cabeza (2008)

Director:

Jaime Rosales

Writer:

Jaime Rosales (written by)

Release Date:

3 October 2008 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Asun Arretxe	...	Asun
Ion Arretxe	...	Ion
Nerea Cobreros	...	Ane
Monique Durin-Noury	...	Dueña casa Francia
Manza Gebara	...	Abogado 2
Diego Gutiérrez	...	Guardia Civil Maqueda
José Ángel Lopetegui	...	Amigo
Iván Moreno	...	Guardia Civil Alonso
Jaione Otxone	...	Garbiñe
Stephanie Pecastaing	...	Stephanie
Iñigo Royo	...	Lara
Mikel Tello	...	Abogado 1
Gilles Vaxelaire	...	Dueño casa Francia
Ana Vila	...	Susana

Also Known As:

Bullet in the Head (USA) (festival title)
Un tir dans la tête (France)
Un tiro en la nuca (Spain) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:85 min

Country:

Spain | France

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Donostia-San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, País Vasco, Spain

Company:

Fresdeval Films

Imperfect but much needed experiment.

Already in production when Rosales got several Goya awards for the outstanding "La soledad", "Tiro en la cabeza" echoes another experiment made by Alan Clarke in the late 1980s called "Elephant". It is a cold, austere work that doesn't allow the viewer to feel for or identify with the characters for most of its duration. Rosales makes sure of this by using an almost surveillance-like camera-work. It all feels very distant. Sound-wise, the Spanish filmmaker keep us away from the dialogue too; politically mistreated and overexploited feature in the Basque conflict that, although present in the film, we don't have access to. The general decontextualization and the suppression of the ideological element in the film help to accentuate the absurdity in the final events. Overall, an imperfect but much needed both exploration of the possibilities of cinema and view on the Basque conflict.