Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF
Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF
Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF
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Romancero Marroquí, Carlos Velo, Enrique Dominguez Rodiño<br />
(1939). Peasants ploughing a field near Larache. Courtesy <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>Film</strong>oteca Española, Madrid<br />
in Morocco, Colonel Juan Beigbeder, one <strong>of</strong> the key figures <strong>of</strong> the<br />
military rebellion in the North <strong>of</strong> Africa and the senior <strong>of</strong>ficer<br />
responsible throughout the war for guaranteeing the support <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Moroccan nationalists to the Franco cause and, as a result, an<br />
uninterrupted flow <strong>of</strong> Moorish troops to the Peninsular battle fronts.<br />
By recruiting a qualified team from the film production firm, CEA,<br />
including – for reasons still not clear – the Republican Carlos Velo,<br />
Beigbeder promoted the shooting <strong>of</strong> a feature film in 1938<br />
“which – in his own words – at the same time as it shows,<br />
in documentary form, all <strong>of</strong> the beautiful works <strong>of</strong> art and<br />
nature, regions and customs <strong>of</strong> the country, it also reflects,<br />
by means <strong>of</strong> a plot developed in part <strong>of</strong> the film, the<br />
fervent participation <strong>of</strong> the Moroccan people in our<br />
glorious Uprising”.<br />
Although the propagandistic intentions are evident at all<br />
times in Romancero marroquí (which was highly acclaimed<br />
by Franco and Serrano Suñer and even premiered in Berlin<br />
in a slightly different version dubbed in German), the fact<br />
is that the film stands out on account <strong>of</strong> its remarkable<br />
plastic qualities and as one <strong>of</strong> the major milestones <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Spanish documentary movement <strong>of</strong> the thirties. With its<br />
marked ethnographic tone, Romancero marroquí succeeded<br />
in transcending the mere exaltation <strong>of</strong> the Moorish troops<br />
enlisted in Franco’s army, in order to become a true<br />
testimony <strong>of</strong> respect towards the idiosyncrasies and<br />
traditions <strong>of</strong> the Moroccan people, who, in virtue <strong>of</strong> this<br />
understanding and a supposed community <strong>of</strong> interests,<br />
were <strong>of</strong>fered a future horizon incomparably better than that<br />
<strong>of</strong> the French zone. An unaccustomed vision in the<br />
framework <strong>of</strong> the colonial cinema <strong>of</strong> the era, which<br />
generally reflected little sensitivity towards the personality<br />
and the way <strong>of</strong> life <strong>of</strong> the citizens <strong>of</strong> the overseas<br />
possessions, the film by Velo and Domínguez Rodiño appeared to<br />
have commenced a new stage in the Spanish cinema’s perspective on<br />
Africa. However, the course <strong>of</strong> the Civil War itself and the change in<br />
the Franco regime’s policy on Africa, increasingly less permissive with<br />
the Moroccan nationalistic sectors, brought about a fresh inflection<br />
towards the usual military epic themes.<br />
Nevertheless, the idyllic vision <strong>of</strong> the life in the Protectorate<br />
conveyed by Romancero marroquí had at least one counterpart in its<br />
contemporary La Canción de Aixa (Florián Rey, 1939). <strong>Film</strong>ed in<br />
studios in Berlin during the war – and with the exteriors shot in<br />
Morocco, precisely at the same time as Velo was concluding his<br />
documentary – La Canción de Aixa belongs to the tradition <strong>of</strong> the<br />
oriental fantasies, which had been portrayed in paintings and, most<br />
especially, in zarzuelas for some time, but which then acquired a new<br />
and important ideological dimension. In contrast even to the later<br />
cinematographic orientalia <strong>of</strong> the Franco period (Sucedió en Damasco,<br />
32 <strong>Journal</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Film</strong> <strong>Preservation</strong> / 63 / 2001