Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

Madrid-The Resideneia (I 9 I 7- I 92 3 ) 5 5tioning occurred-I continued to visit friends, since we were allowedto leave the barracks every evening, and even to sleep at home, exceptfor guard-duty nights. They were the worst. We slept fully dressed,down to our ammunition belts, with a full component of the requisitelice and fleas. Next door, the sergeants sat around a warm stoveplaving cards and drinking wine. I was consumed with envy. Morethan anything in the world, I yearned to be a sergeant.Like everyone else, I rediscover certain periods of my life in asingle image, or feeling, or just an impression-my hatred for JuanCenteno and his uncombed hair, my envy of the sergeants' stove.Yet, despite the cold and the boredom, I have fond memories ofboth my sojourn with the Jesuits and my military service. I saw andlearned things that I couldn't have elsewhere. Once, after my tourof duty was over, I ran into my commanding officer at a concert."You were such a good soldier!" was all he said to me.For several years, Spain had been governed by the "benevolentdictator" Primo de Rivera, the father of the founder of the Falangists.Both labor and the anarchists were beginning to organize, however,as was the Spanish Communist party. One day, at the railroad stationin Madrid on my way back from Saragossa, I learned that Dato, theprime minister, had been assassinated by anarchists on the street inbroad daylight. I grabbed a coach and drove immediately to the Called'Alcala, where the coachman showed me the bullet holes. Soonafterward, we heard that the anarchists, led by Ascaso and Durruti,had assassinated Soldevilla Romero, the archbishop of Saragossa, anodious character who was thoroughly detested by everyone, includingmy uncle the canon. That evening at the Residencia, we drank tothe damnation of his soul.To be frank, I would have to confess that our political consciousnesseshad been more or less asleep for so long that they were onlyjust beginning to stir. Most of us did not come fully awake until1927-1928, just before the proclamation of the Republic. Up untilthat moment, we paid only minimal attention to the infant Communistand anarchist publications, although they did introduce us