Long Live Death (1971)

At the end of the Spanish civil war, Fando, a boy of about ten, tries to make sense of war and his father's arrest. His mother is religious, sympathetic to the Fascists; his father is ... See full summary »

Director:

Fernando Arrabal (as Arrabal)

Writers:

Fernando Arrabal (by) (as Arrabal), Fernando Arrabal (novel) (as Arrabal)

Stars:

Anouk Ferjac, Núria Espert, Mahdi Chaouch

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Anouk Ferjac	...	La Tante / The aunt
Núria Espert	...	La Mère / The mother
Mahdi Chaouch	...	Fando / Son
Ivan Henriques	...	Tosan / Le Père-The father
Jazia Klibi	...	Thérèse / Fando's friend
Suzanne Comte	...	La Grand-mère / Grandmother
Jean-Louis Chassigneux	...	Le Grand-père / Grandfather
Mohamed Bellasoued	...	Colonel
Victor Garcia	...	Fando / 20 ans-yo

Storyline

At the end of the Spanish civil war, Fando, a boy of about ten, tries to make sense of war and his father's arrest. His mother is religious, sympathetic to the Fascists; his father is accused of being a Red. Fando discovers that his mother may have aided in his father's arrest. Sometimes we witness Fando imagining explanations for what's going on; sometimes we see him at play, alone or with his friend Thérèse. Oedipal fantasies and a lad's natural curiosity about sex and death mix with his search for his mother's nature and his father's fate. Will Fando survive the search?

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Plot Keywords:

nihilism | mother bathes son | federico garcia lorca | fascist government | fascist regime | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France Tunisia

Language:

French

Release Date:

12 May 1971 (France)

Also Known As:

Long Live Death

Filming Locations:

Tunisia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Isabelle Films, Satpec

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Directorial debut of Fernando Arrabal.

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Goofs

When Fando is up at the lighthouse and urinates on the city, a hose behind his legs is clearly visible at times.

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Connections

Featured in Jonas in the Desert (1994)

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Soundtracks

Ekkoleg
Written and Performed by Grethe Agatz

User Reviews

Repetitive

VIVA LA MUERTE does have amazing visuals and the idea of combining video with film was brilliant and ahead of its time. BUT the main problem of with VIVA LA MUERTE is that it's extremely repetitive. The film feels like it's made of 10 minute long short films that use the same direction, the same editing, the same pacing. With the film's running time at 90 minutes, it was like watching nine 10 minute long short films strung together, that all looked the same. So after the fourth or fifth 10 minute moments, I was slowly drifting away from the film, uninterested to whatever was happening on screen. It is an art film and should be viewed differently than your average movie but I thought the whole thing simply didn't gel together and the symbolism was heavy handed.