El Sopar (1974)

Original title

El sopar

Directed by

Pere Portabella

Genre

documentary film

Country

Spain

Runtime

1h 05m

Rating

5.9 of 10 from 7 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

On the night that Salvador Puig Antich is executed, five former political prisoners gather secretly in a farmhouse. They cook dinner and talk about the hardships of long prison terms. The film captures their conversation and the heavy atmosphere of the time.

contemplativesombersubduedintimatequietly tenserestrainedreflectivehistorical

What happens

El Sopar (English: Dinner) is a 1974 documentary film, in Catalan and Spanish, by experimental filmmaker Pere Portabella. The film takes place on the night of the execution of militant anarchist Salvador Puig Antich by Franco's Spanish State. Using simple cinematic conventions, Portabella's documentary involves five former political prisoners gathered in a farmhouse to prepare dinner and discuss the problems with long prison terms. To protect the film's subjects from persecution by in Francoist Spain, the film's production was coordinated in secrecy, with notices of the secret shooting location sent to technicians and participants at staggered times. After Franco’s death, Portabella recut his film and added an interview with Puig Antich’s lawyer. In 2018, he added a new intertitle that refers to the Catalan pro-independence politicians currently in jail. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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