Childhood search for Franco and father

Press, 15 November 1984, Page 10

Childhood search for Franco and father

“Demons in the Garden,” a film about childhood memories in Spain which was shown at this year’s Christchurch International Film Festival, returns to the Academy tomorrow. The director, Manuel Gutierrez Aragon, describes his film:

“In ‘Demons in the Garden,’ the hero is a little boy who dreams of meeting Franco and knowing his father, whom he has never seen; and his disillusionment when he finally has the opportunity to approach both of them. “I was that pampered little boy, brought up in auiet surroundings, between le affectionate jealousy of my mother and my aunt, and a grandmother who owned a grocery shop during those hungry years following the Spanish Civil War.

“However, this film is not an autobiography. Most of all F wanted to show the

mutual resemblance of those children of my generation who, in Spain today, ‘decide’ on the government level, as well as in literature, journalism, films...” “Demons in the Garden” is a rich, eloquent film. From the opening wedding sequence, the camerawork is sweeping and gracefully sensuous, the narrative fluent, orchestrating complex interactions with no apparent effort. The three women are awesome, but the film never stops to showcase their beauty the way that Hollywood might; they stalk through it, Molina proud, fierce and raw, and Belen repressed, with the vulnerability of a glamorous woman confined in a small town. '

Both women have been involved with the same dashing, rather vacuous man, a personal aide to Franco whom they mw see only in movie newsrfes.