Berlanga’s Cinema and Historical Memory in Spain

Abstract

This paper examines the memorial function of Luis García Berlanga’s cinema in relation to the Spanish Civil War, Francoism, the Transition and Spanish democracy. Its aim is to explore how his films transform events, institutions and social experiences from the recent past into materials of cultural memory. The study adopts a qualitative, hermeneutic and ftextual film analysis applied to Bienvenido, Míster Marshall, Plácido, El verdugo, the Leguineche trilogy, La vaquilla and Todos a la cárcel. The analysis considers the temporality of production, represented temporality, satirical strategies, the choral structure, social spaces, forms of violence or repression, and the memorial function of each film. The results show that the films made under Francoism acquire memorial value as contemporary satires later reread as a cultural archive; the Leguineche trilogy captures the continuity of elites; La vaquilla revisits the Civil War through esperpento; and Todos a la cárcel problematises the democratic institutionalisation of remembrance. The article concludes that Berlanga turns choral comedy into a critical form of historical knowledge, capable of revealing the persistence of power and the contradictions of contemporary Spanish memory.