Formas de condicionar la verdad con el uso del montaje en La pelota vasca

José  Cabeza San Deogracias; María Antonia Paz Rebollo

doi:10.4185/RLCS-66-2011-922-001-030

Authors

José Cabeza San Deogracias Rey Juan Carlos University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1047-2733
María Antonia Paz Rebollo Complutense University of Madrid https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6664-0647

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-66-2011-922-001-030

Keywords:

documentary, terrorism, editing, Basque Country, Medem, ETA

Abstract

The objective of this article is to look at how the director conveyed his theme in The Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone (Julio Medem, 2003), a documentary about terrorism which has generated both controversy and commercial success in the Spanish cinema. Through an analysis of his editing styles, we can discover the guidelines and narrative structures the director utilizes to shape the words spoken in the film which influence the opinions of his viewers. The director creates a solid foundation of facts that permit us to make a meticulous analysis of the speech used in the film. This methodology for creating documentaries can also be used in other documentaries with similar characteristics. The conclusions we have reached show that the director's structure relies on past documentaries as well as interviews of different personalities from within the Basque Country. He does this, in a sense, to give a name to the Basque conflict, something favored by those who have nationalistic tendencies. However, he does criticize the actions of the Partido Popular in the government over the years as a factor in the deterioration of the image of the State. This is mainly due to the fact that a high number of interviewees made negative references about the State’s security forces. We also have learned that the credibility of the people interviewed depends upon where they are situated within the film’s structure, as well as if other interviewees refute or endorse what they say.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

José Cabeza San Deogracias, Rey Juan Carlos University

José Cabeza is Full Professor at the Faculty of Communication Sciences, of the Rey Juan Carlos University. He teaches the subjects Film, Television and Video Criticism, Audio-visual Process, and Audiovisual Script-writing.

He is the author of several books on narrative and cinema in the Spanish Civil war: El descanso del guerrero. El cine en Madrid durante la Guerra Civil Española 1936-39 (The warrior’s rest. Cinema in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War 1936-39) published by Rialp (Madrid, 2005), and La narrativa invencible. Cine de Hollywood en Madrid durante la Guerra Civil Española (The invincible narrative. Hollywood cinema in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War) published by Cátedra (Madrid, 2009).

He has also collaborated in several studies on documentaries in the Encyclopedia of Documentary Films (London, Routledge, 2005) and in the dictionary Directory of World Cinema (Intellect, 2011).

María Antonia Paz Rebollo, Complutense University of Madrid

María Antonia Paz-Rebollo is Chair Professor in the Department of history of Social Communication at the Complutense University of Madrid. She teaches history of social communication and Informational Film History (Spanish and International).

She is the author, with her colleague Julio Montero, of several studies on these subjects: La larga sombra de Hitler. El cine nazi en España (1933-1945) (The long shadow of Hitler. Nazi cinema in Spain (1933–1945)); Creando la Realidad. El Cine Informativo, 1895-1945 (Creating reality. Informative Film, 1895-1945); and La imagen pública de la Monarquía. Alfonso XIII en la Prensa y en los noticiarios cinematográficos de su época (The public image of the Monarchy. Alfonso XIII in the press and the news films of his time).

She is also the editor, with the same co-author, of Historia y cine: realidad, ficción y propaganda (History and cinema: reality, fiction and propaganda) and La historia que el cine nos cuenta (The history told by cinema). She is also the author of academic articles in specialised journals (like Zer, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Communication and Society, etc.).

References

Barrenetxea Marañón, I. (2006): “La pelota vasca. La piel contra la piedra: Historia de una polemica”. Revista de Estudios Vascos Sancho el Sabio 25, pp. 138-162.

Canga, J. et al (2010): “Terrorismo y política dominan las portadas de la prensa vasca. Análisis de contenido y superficie de las primeras páginas de los diarios autonómicos". Revista Latina de Comunicación Social 65, La Laguna (Tenerife), Universidad de La Laguna, pp. 61-70, en http://www.revistalatinacs.org/10/art/883_UPV/05_J_Canga_et_al.html

De Pablo, S. (2008): “El problema de ETA a través del cine: historia, ficción y responsabilidad”. En VVAA, Sociedad de masas, medios de comunicación y opinión pública (Vol. 1). (Coord., Capellán de Miguel, G. y Pérez Serrano, J. Julio). Logroño: Instituto de Estudios Riojanos.

Medem, J. (2003): “Un pájaro vuela en una garganta”. Gara, 18 de septiembre de 2003

Muñoz-Torres, J. R. (2007): “Underlying Epistemological conceptions in Journalism”. Journalism Studies 2, vol. 8, April, pp. 224-247. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700601148838

Plantinga, C. (1997): Rhetoric and representation in non-fiction film. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Sánchez Duarte, J. M. (2008): La construcción mediática de las víctimas del terrorismo. El caso español. Madrid: Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (tesis doctoral)

Sánchez-Cuenca, I. (2007): “The dynamics of Nationalist Terrorism: ETA and the IRA”. Terrorism and Political Violence 3, vol. 19, September, pp. 289-306. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09546550701246981

Torregrosa, M. (2008): “La naturaleza del cine de no ficción: Carl. R. Plantinga y la herencia pragmatista del signo.” Zer. Revista de Estudios de Comunicación 24, vol. 3, mayo, pp. 303-315.

Truby, J. (2009): Anatomía del guión. El arte de narrar en 22 pasos. Barcelona: Alba

Zumalde, I. (2008): “Estamp(it)as multiculturales. Las tribulaciones del texto fílmico contemporáneo antes las veleidades de la crítica posmoderna”. Zer. Revista de Estudios de Comunicación 24, vol. 3, mayo, pp. 223-236.