3 Review(s)

In the 1970s, especially after Franco's death in 1975, Spanish cinema was bursting at the seams. Numerous film directors broke free from the ancient taboos which had reigned under the dictatorship. The best known of these, Pedro Almod?var, introduces characters who, through their bodies, transgress the traditional borders of social, cultural and sexual identities. Post- Franco cinema exhibits women who desire openly and who dream of autonomy; homosexuals experience their passion without hiding themselves; transsexuals shake up family traditions, and delinquents are made visible as forming an integral part of this new society. Under Franco rule, all of these dissident bodies were 'lost'. Here, they reflect new mythological figures, inhabiting an idealised body form (a prototypical body). These new images transform the stereotyped bodies as they question ancient archetypal values. They encompass a cinematographic view about drug addiction, terrorism, gypsies, gender issues (trans-sexuality, homosexuality), women (motherhood, femme fatale), and so forth. Spanish cinema offers a dazzling performance transforming previous dissident bodies into the new protagonists of its national cinema.