Director Fernando Arrabal is most recognized for his surrealistic and often controversial films. Along with Alejandro Jodorowsky he founded The Panic Movement - an avant garde performance-art collective inspired by the ideas of Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty. The Guernica Tree is Arrabal's bizarre and horrific retelling of the Bombing of Guernica.
On April 26, 1937 during the Spanish Civil War the Republican town of Guernica was bombed by planes of the German Luftwaffe under the command of General Franco, which left hundreds of casualties. A large tree in the middle of the town was left untouched by the bombs and was thereafter referred to as the "freedom tree''. Picasso also painted a famous mural titled Guernica which depicts the suffering and chaos caused by the bombing.
The Guernica Tree is set in the fictional town of Villa Romero which is ruled by the oppressive land baron, Count Cerralbo and his 4 sons, 3 of whom are equally as nasty and money-hungry as their father and the black sheep of the family, Goya, an anarchist who is against his father and brothers treatment of the peasant population. When Goya's brothers join the fascist army to help overthrow the Republican government, he alternately joins the rebels fight against Franco's fascist regime. Leading the rebellion is Vandale, the town eccentric / witch who subsequently meets and falls in love with Goya.
This film is filled with explicit and often shocking imagery, yet in turn it also has many scenes of surreal beauty. Some extremely blasphemous scenes include the villagers blowing up images of Christ, urinating on a porcelain figure of Jesus and a dwarf smearing his cum on the lips of the Virgin Mary. In addition to the defilement of religious iconography there are also images of dwarf crucifixion, numerous executions, acts of torture and sadism (reminiscent of Pasolini's Salo,) authentic footage of WWII & Hitler addressing his troops intercut throughout and a striking scene with a naked child playing innocently in a room full of human skulls.
Although beyond all the violence there are often blackly humorous depictions of political and social satire, as in the scene where two government officials passionately French kiss each other, or the lengthy "bullfight'' where a Matador butchers helpless midgets dressed as bull's for the entertainment of the socially elite.
Overall this is an excellent example of pointed surrealism and satire that examines the horrors of war and uncompromisingly assaults the senses via images of pure chaos and grotesquerie. Highly recommended to people who dig fringe / Art-house cinema and fans of Jodorowsky & Buñuel's work. 7/10
On April 26, 1937 during the Spanish Civil War the Republican town of Guernica was bombed by planes of the German Luftwaffe under the command of General Franco, which left hundreds of casualties. A large tree in the middle of the town was left untouched by the bombs and was thereafter referred to as the "freedom tree''. Picasso also painted a famous mural titled Guernica which depicts the suffering and chaos caused by the bombing.
The Guernica Tree is set in the fictional town of Villa Romero which is ruled by the oppressive land baron, Count Cerralbo and his 4 sons, 3 of whom are equally as nasty and money-hungry as their father and the black sheep of the family, Goya, an anarchist who is against his father and brothers treatment of the peasant population. When Goya's brothers join the fascist army to help overthrow the Republican government, he alternately joins the rebels fight against Franco's fascist regime. Leading the rebellion is Vandale, the town eccentric / witch who subsequently meets and falls in love with Goya.
This film is filled with explicit and often shocking imagery, yet in turn it also has many scenes of surreal beauty. Some extremely blasphemous scenes include the villagers blowing up images of Christ, urinating on a porcelain figure of Jesus and a dwarf smearing his cum on the lips of the Virgin Mary. In addition to the defilement of religious iconography there are also images of dwarf crucifixion, numerous executions, acts of torture and sadism (reminiscent of Pasolini's Salo,) authentic footage of WWII & Hitler addressing his troops intercut throughout and a striking scene with a naked child playing innocently in a room full of human skulls.
Although beyond all the violence there are often blackly humorous depictions of political and social satire, as in the scene where two government officials passionately French kiss each other, or the lengthy "bullfight'' where a Matador butchers helpless midgets dressed as bull's for the entertainment of the socially elite.
Overall this is an excellent example of pointed surrealism and satire that examines the horrors of war and uncompromisingly assaults the senses via images of pure chaos and grotesquerie. Highly recommended to people who dig fringe / Art-house cinema and fans of Jodorowsky & Buñuel's work. 7/10