Film Review

Land and Freedom is the story of a passionate and somewhat confused young British communist David Carr (played by Ian Hart), who, frustrated with lack of action for radical social change at home, travels to Spain and joins the international brigades to fight fascism on the front line. The story is told through David’s eyes from the point of view of the Marxist left and mostly set (and filmed) around northern Spain and Catalonia, in this sense it bears some resemblance to George Orwell's recollections in his book Homage to Catalonia, especially when depicting street fighting in Barcelona. Having read Orwell's book and watched the film in the same week, I can’t help but compare the two in many ways, and if the truth be told, I found Homage to Catalonia much more useful in my quest to learn about this period in history. I found Land and Freedom somewhat manipulative and mediocre, despite some fantastic acting and glimpses of the beautiful Spanish countryside. I thought certain elements of the plot, such as the romance between Carr and a female fellow soldier, unnecessary and typical of conventional mainstream films. The film has none of the lucid style with which Orwell presents his experience and research, relying instead on the ability of the audience to identify and sympathize with the central characters as they dance to tunes of love, loss, hope, betrayal and violence.Land and Freedom re-enacts the Leninist betrayal of the Anarchists and Trotskyites who sought genuine people's revolution, collectivization, and an end to slavery, poverty and the centralization of power. The movie shows that the dichotomies often presented by those in control of popular media in a time of war are inevitably dangerous oversimplifications. We witness this first hand as Carr, lost in a messy conflict, struggles to decide which militia to support. The film also demonstrates the difficulty inherent in transforming such an intricate and chaotic event into an epic film worthy of the world stage. Now it is Loach and writer Jim Allen who are drawn into the difficult situation of choosing sides in a complicated and politically charged environment.The film ends with our hero's granddaughter reading a militant poem by nineteenth-century British socialist William Morris, and this seems to support the idea that radicalism and revolutionary thinking in the past cannot be reduced to nostalgia and discarded in favour of cynicism and sedation now and in the future. This is an admirable sentiment. Indeed, films title "Land and Freedom!" was the slogan of the anarchist movement in Spain, and Loach and Allen have said that the film is not a period piece but a statement for today to counter the rising force of fascism. Although it has many conventional elements that I found somewhat tedious, Land and Freedom is a fine piece of creative work, and carries a taste of the kind of revolutionary flavour that I crave and adore.

Audrey Autonomy 2005