Director Joris Ivens

Countries United States

Duration 52 min

Synopsis
"Spanish Earth" is Iven’s first war film: shots in Madrid show the damage done to that city, and also the dangers to the citizens who still remained. Pitiful processions of refugees show the conflict between Franco’s forces and the Republican front in all its grim reality, while a battle for a bridgehead demonstrates the unspectacular but deadly prosecution of modern warfare. The main theme is the defence of Madrid and patriotism of its defenders: running parallel with this is the work of the peasants striving to irrigate the dust-dry fields to provide crops for the soldiers. Hemingway and Ivens constructed story-line after story-line to give shape and meaning to their daily experiences in Spain. Another intention of Ivens was to show how German and Italian governments were on Franco’s side. According to one story, Erns Lubitsch asked Ivens after a showing why he hadn’t shown the other side, Ivens explained that if he had crossed the lines and been found filming he would probably have been shot.