El cine y la batalla del Ebro

Abstract

There has not been much cinema made about the Battle of the Ebro, one of the most important battles during the Spanish Civil war between 1936-1939. However, some cinematographic shorts at the time provided a few of the most powerful images of the conflict. Even if the number of images were quite limited, analysing the different sections of the battle on screen provides us with some keys to the development of the battle: on one side, the Republicans film the initial stage of the battle when they were leading, and on the other side, the 'Nationals' (Franco's side) show the late stage of the battle and also the end, when they were victorious. On screen, each side shows their own vision and interests. After the victory, the voice over pronounced that "Franco is unbeatable". All the glory goes to "el Caudillo" [nick name for Franco]. Cinema is, without any doubt, a great publicity tool.

This article provides an overall understanding of the cinema of the Ebro area during the civil war. It also includes information about the support given by the Soviets, German and Italian to each side; as well as cinema created by the anarchist and communist groups, the one given by the Catalan Goverment, and the increasing improvement of the cinema made by the nationalist side, which was almost non-existing in the first stage of the war. There have been very few films inspired by this battle; this is still a very unexplored area for directors.