Short Takes: “Rosa Rosae: A Spanish Civil War Elegy” (2022)

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Rosa Rosae poster


“Me da miedo que la Guerra Civil pueda reproducirse algún día.” - Carlos Saura 


Perhaps nothing traumatizes a nation and its people as deeply as civil war. Studies by historians like Drew Faust and Heather Cox Richardson are persuasive in showing how deeply the fault lines and shadows of the American Civil War has left its mark on subsequent generations and how the divisions in society persist. The Spanish Civil War is more recent and the after-effects of the Franco regime continue to leave their mark. 


Carlos Sauras’ short film “Rosa Rosae: A Spanish Civil War Elegy” is six minutes of filmic poetry and tragedy. Sauras had lived through it and seen its cost up front, the shift from a free republic to a repressive dictatorship. He fears it could happen again and this film is a graphic gut punch to serve as a reminder what that war was like.


The film is set to the song “Rosa Rosae” by Saura’s fellow Aragonian contemporary José Antonio Labordeta and is comprised of images from documentation of the war that were treated by Saura himself. The result are zooms and fade overs of imagery that reads as a cross between Goya and Kollowitz. 


The words and images reinforce the confusion and meaninglessness of it all in the wake of desperation, destruction and desolation. 


This is an extraordinary work available on MUBI and I can share it for free via my account. Email myreactions@gmail.com and let me know if you’re interested. 


Still from Rosa Rosae



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