now BBC 2 goes on location with Ken
Loach to watch director and cast at work
on the critically acclaimed land and
freedom sound or number 183 183 our
expected land and freedom hunger for
stereo set 15 IPS CCI and 2010 here
sorry
dear kiss well I made the it's a bit
dodgy in the sea was rough
was I glad to get off that ship that
either blow who smuggled me aboard
attend up trumps he got me assured in
one piece of more say then Thunder lift
look up alot ease to the border that's a
walk miles all uphill and now me boots
is shot to pieces
I had to creep over the border at night
no Passport
I was scared stiff but I made it and now
I'm in Spain hope you well will rise
again later lots of love David every
film you try and build on the ashes of
what you're done before and try and do
it better I think you have to come to
each job almost whether with a blank
sheet of paper not an empty head but at
least a blank sees paper so that the the
material can dictate its own form and
structure and method
good
the Spanish Civil War with the luff of
the big causes well in July 1936 van
Corley generals supported by Hitler
Mussolini attacked the democratically
elected Republican governments for the
Spanish people for the Republican dead
in this graveyard
the issue was simple and clear cuts it
was good against evil
he was fascism against democracy but the
Republic was isolated he was denied arms
chiefly because of an embargo placed on
it by Britain and France and so
volunteers intellectuals workers came
from all over the world they cost doshu
they leave Lacoste punches he climbed up
enemies to offer their lives in defense
of the Republic and to fight fascism
today fascism is back on the agenda
the animals are back on the streets
daily attacks on ethnic minorities
growing anti-semitism fascist
politicians n-terminal on Parliament's
not to candidates standing in England
the elections and so for these reasons
can and I considered that this film is
topical his relatives what is happening
to the world today
assume only group of young people form
an international collective we have
German we have Italian we are French we
have American Mia British we have a
young lad from Liverpool David his
twenties and he's fairly naive he's got
a very simplistic view the good guys and
the bad guys he formed relationship to
Spanish girl called Blanca and some of
the experiencee he collides with makes
you begin to question
in 1936 you have a young and struggling
democracy in Spain faced with the threat
from the old traditional classes
especially the army but also the church
the landowners and so on who rise up
against this government to try and
overthrow it installed a dictatorship
but on the Republican side the size
democracy is a divided Left between
those who defend it just the idea of a
normal liberal democracy and those that
thought that no here what we're doing is
fighting for a new world not just
fighting defend democracy but fighting
for a revolution and this was a case of
the the anarchists the CNT and of a
small party the PIO um which is at the
center of Ken's film the Puma they are
the outsiders who were the people who
when when the whole thing kicked off
where were the people on the right side
of the fence and because the Communist
Party wanted to manipulate the
government and gain power the pom had to
be sacrificed to the poom yeah with the
poom with like the ones who had nice
guys who were completely stabbed in the
back
I think is the most important story of
the 20th century really how there's been
this great force that could have changed
things could have changed the world and
it's always been misled and sidetracked
and obscured and obfuscate is and led of
a cul-de-sac and the the Spanish
experience shows it's very clearly
crystallizes there be many or several
great opportunities in this century for
the people into inherit the earth and
that was one of them and so the reason
it didn't happen is the interesting
story to tell because it's a remarkable
story that I think not many people know
just as a story of people went defies
and how they were sold out and simply to
make a film where the fascists were the
bad guys there nobody else for the good
guys was it is in the end uninteresting
because it's too easy and it hides the
real the villainous that went on on the
Republican side and that that's the
tragedy that's the tragedy dear kiss
well I'm a soldier now with the PRU
militia there's all sorts here people
from all over the place women to tell
Frank that as soon as the party gets
organized I'll jump in with them it's
the same difference anyway as long as
were fighting fascism no messing kid I
wish you'd have been here to see the
street rahiba militia men and women
cheering and singing this is the
revolution and I'm proud to be part of
it like a breath of fresh air
okay good my was good okay this Drake
sorry I think Ken and Jim I've been
wanting to make this film for decades I
mean I think it's just always been on
their mind a certainly no least a decade
the script went through many many draft
at first there wasn't a militia
for instance you had David and a few
other characters but we realized I
suppose that ken is best at working with
a group of people and this was a golden
opportunity to mix up nationalities and
put together a sort of team of fighters
who would fight for us on the screen and
and we could tell the story through them
okay right yes but it but minimus laughs
I mean you speak after you did and Ken
is involved every step of the way we
will discuss a film I will analyze it
can then come to me and Manchester and
we sit down and we walked on it which
sniff and we argue if I'm not getting my
where it's every fourth fifth and six
month table then also sick then of all
smoke in his eyes but Ken will only
agree and I too will only if I believe
in what I'm saying
the character is like the conductor and
you you've got a sort of galvanized
everybody's concentration on one thing
because if the script is right and I do
it right then they will respond as they
do in the script the Ken Louis method is
basically to shoot in sequence to tell
you the actors nothing it's not hired
too many actors because they cause too
much trouble and about it really and
I'll get them Caravan so they don't
disappear during yeah not giving the
arrests no but um if you were filming a
prison movie you'd stay in prison
exactly because they'd be plenty of beds
you know the main three meals a day and
it's amazing for you kind of step back
and just watch watching
he's thinking cuz it's like you can
actually see the whole thing Nick
actually see whenever he's kind of
looking through some suited lenses until
you see you know something that we don't
know and that's probably because he's
got the script and we don't if you do
get a script it's the day before some
people are give him different pages some
of you might be given a two page of
dialogue that I'm involved in but I
won't be giving them because for me it
should be surprised sometimes there is a
mysterious and strange white page so you
a blank page a blank page so I suppose
they put a white page to to hide what's
happening at the end so he has a very
precise idea about what could happen but
it may it may change I suppose yes the
only thing the tire I knew before start
shooting was that I have a lover an
Irish man it's the only thing that I'm I
knew the only thing that can tell me
well well we have a contract so we know
more or less how many days we have to be
here but even this is not that you know
you can take it for granted that is say
I don't know I don't know what what is
going to happen to me I don't know if
I'm going to die or if I'm going just to
leave the trenches and go away I don't
know nothing how the job program and is
it really
your brother Ken keeps his distance by
working with long lenses and keeps the
crew as far away from the action really
as possible I mean it's not always
possible just so the people on the
screen feel more at ease and feel more
like they're in a real situation I think
in an ideal world
ken would prefer to have film is being
made and I see him as a magician you
know he said he has created this
incredible group of people whose work
which is working incredibly well
sometimes our relationships are bigger
than the relationships in the movie you
know something really strong what is
happening with the crew and with the
with the section of municipal but him
he's always like it's a really like a
goddess all the time watching us of
serving us and I think he's taking his
own notes hey como en para mi Caen es
básico important assume okay a fortune a
demented a cent a como el salto en el
los medios de comunicación que está
enfrente de la tell Tina Kampala classy
que tenga los huevos no hacer esto
porque en en espanol a oh yeah Lea Amy
Polk ohonta me poke agenda mm when you
see de guy care so much Emilio X modena
boria's me we're poor unfortunate day he
sees por en
you know so when you see somebody eating
the same [ __ ] you are and he's doing it
for something that he really believes in
it makes it easy to go the extra mile
we had a big battle imminent bill so we
all knew that someone was going to die
because it's vital and their parachutes
and grenades and everything and
everybody was so frightened it because
nobody wanted to die because that today
means leave the movie but no one was
saying I don't want to leave the movie
everybody was saying
secretiveness I do see today's India
buddy
you see was melago an undeclared
thank you
when to know how sorry I am for what
happened I should have opened fire but I
didn't in the end they they shot him and
that's all that is to it the thing is he
was he was a good man he was a brave man
compañeros de los compañeros de la
compañera an SI las se na dos por los
Batista porque la gente del play porque
como nosotros hotel on pole arrival
Theatre in a way where there's several
paces back compared to how they were in
Spain where they were people on the
March and saw the possibility of change
be able are able go I mean no bar Lodge
we going to see that possibility so
first of all we have to revive that
sense of power sense of strength sense
of confidence we have to show them that
actually change is possible
the broken people have the power to do
it but it's it's a long to long process
because the left has suffered so many
defeats
the established political parties are
saying it has to be the market the
market is the only is the only mechanism
that they can be progressive and to that
extent history stop and to reassert
other ideas that in fact the market will
always lead to mass unemployment will
always lead to poverty will always lead
to exploitation will always lead to war
and that's the values of collective
strength as a way of providing for our
needs and generating a more tolerant
less abrasive place to live in
reasserting that is a very tough job
today well they take the shot in order
to make a good picture we may have to
just come in a booth on these ages ago
that's on this to their right 10 is an
exception most Alexis won a few prizes
and then scroll off to the states and it
seems that there are deal ISM goes with
them it dies that is retained this kind
of radical vision is a great passionate
concern he's not like some visiting
anthropologist he goes there with a very
deep consumed with what something he
identifies he allies himself with his
people and this comes out on his movers
okay so now we can go to the position
where you're into the room for the first
time I'm looking at the pictures and the
books and the richness of the room
we have to develop a a different current
within the cinema and of course you know
you can't do that with one film at a
time every few months because it will
always be outside the mainstream until
the question of telling a good story a
story that you feel in your bones is
really accessible is not a difficult and
it's fun and it's sad and it's tragic
and it's touching and it's energizing
all those things perhaps because it's
told in the slides of from way or if
what you're doing doesn't fit that then
it tends not to be commercial when the
market has unified the product so much
it's very difficult to keeper a
different voice Oh methods are only
methods and anything that matters is
what you get on film and you know it's
dangerous to make a fetish of how you do
something I mean in this case it was
very important that that people knew
what they were fighting for and why they
were fighting where they come from and
that they they established relationships
within the group there were the right
balance between having some military
experience and having very little and
the balance between being idealistic and
being pragmatic and for those tensions
to work themselves out in the group
it's question of finding people who have
some things in common with the
characters and some will identify with a
point of view in this case and with a an
emotional journey and live through and
also experience it with all the
possibilities open because that's that's
how you go through life isn't you don't
know what's going to happen next and
you're making judgments all the time
about what what you think will happen
and what you want to do and that's what
I feels got to be in the mind of the
people in the film it's not closed off
you don't know what's gonna happen
either not only fast is the same thing
that capitalism e-40 failure I don't
know what you're fighting for but we are
fighting for revolution don't insult man
I know what I'm fighting for and I don't
you define capitalism for fascism for me
okay I mean for the same bad damn idea
to fight in this war okay but these
people cannot collect about anything
together it doesn't make sense to hide
our political aim let's remember I say
these windows are two million landless
peasants two million for the dinner or
born have had nothing no hope but you
mean the fascist line is only over the
road what's the point
Miraval we collectivise this village
inland and in five days time we could
all be dead this bill to be back with
the fascists and those two million land
landless peasants will be dead I think
it's not the right time to fight each
other but together no we know the price
all of us know the price of the freedom
and we've we've lost a lot of friends
the great failure you have as a
filmmakers that you will all kinds of
extraordinary things will develop and
you didn't you don't capture them on the
camera and that that was a permanent
library
because we had a terrific group and some
extraordinary things developed between
them and I was just scared at the end of
every day that we hadn't captured this
and I just keep my fingers crossed on
her
okay please have the anarchists up on
the roof as soon as they're ready I got
this good Steve and just spin the 12
office for the moment thanks lot lay off
okay we got here like there's Andy he's
on the other road when they really got a
gold ray cause with this we're doing
this with the ambient light Julien
where's where's Ian okay okay okay okay
ray ray and he's on the roof over there
yeah
if we don't go no we again we lose it
what is actually happening in May 37 is
that finally the Communists in
particular making a move to finish with
the revolution they try and take them to
the post change which is held by
pianists this sparks off a rebellion in
Barcelona the workers rise up against
the communist dominated administration
take over the city this represents
really the end of the revolution the
effect of disappointing is that it's
used as an excuse to suppress certain
revolutionary organizations in
particular the PIO um Birbhum their
leader is arrested he dies tortured by
Soviet agents near Madrid and many other
leaders are arrested yes
the more we can do
none of those lambs ninel tree
with this right here we go and
any ever turning over are you English me
yeah well you're flunking over Liverpool
no why are you know very morose [ __ ]
knows good that's good that's not bad so
how was that yeah yeah it's good
Barcelona for me was like the thing that
kind of changed things cuz I understood
things for the first time you didn't
understand anything about the character
and why what's Barcelona things just
made sense okay when you through one
more we may not take it that far but you
see there's gonna be two more they
weren't trying
Garlan I was confused back then I'm
confused now but a different kind of
confusion I mean that sometimes I'd go
um read the script and I have a real
conflict about what I was doing coming
to Spain and meeting these people
because they are still politically
active in the are still motivated
politically it makes you sort of thing
what's wrong with [ __ ] British youth
they were just seemingly dad it seems
like they suffered like with Franco for
so long and when he finally died the
amounted likes of prep that went like
like like oppressor googa these people
are so like a lot of the politically
alive man I'm they're alive in every way
there's one have a good time and want to
change things and see they don't see it
being impossible to change
at the beginning there is some feeling
in the Spaniards like [ __ ] why why is in
English man telling our story I think
now is that that feeling has disappeared
but for me as a Spaniard in making a
film of the Civil War were the most
amazing amazing thing is that I didn't
know that that that happened with the
poem with the Republican band that they
own Republicans kill pound people well I
didn't know that story garadi most rows
Abuelo's ossetia pero durante todo el el
Frankie's mo a la gente de mi
finocchiona okay tenemos entre venti
Cinco in de Cinco años no lo somos
Center Elena induced rows padres que son
los hijos la Vera los que nasi Aaron yah
Dre DNA cont C Sano's no no tenia mucho
miedo le pagan cuando hablaba Catalan
inclusive después de la muerte Franco la
transition todo esto la gente no no
tenían Clara no no Franco immigrant ask
a militia
but thinks that the the eye of the film
is is the eye of an observant person in
the trench - like a sympathetic observer
or ribes / rather than bird's eye view
saying that sense the the people are
foreground of the landscape becomes
incidental
what does become a pressure is the
extent of the caravan trail you have to
take care out within this sort of vast
tents and heating business that goes on
and but in a way that's that's necessary
I mean because you can only work for so
long and then you people need to
recharge I mean it's a pressure to keep
everybody connected to the project and
that that gets more difficult the bigger
the unit and sometimes then you lose it
and you lose people and you lose contact
with people and the important thing is
to have to have everyone focused on a
certain a certain mood a certain little
event if the actors feel a level of
concentration on what they're doing
that's a great cushion for them if there
is no sense of belief around them
they've got it on their head and that's
termit if you look I mean that's why you
know like having a having a row of
seaside umbrellas along it's just not
fair and the people who had got to do a
scene where they've got to put the lies
on the line
okay go down bot it there and bug 342
take to broaden and AME cameras running
parallel with my very good yeah I do 17
on that rule number 30 machine share the
gate check the gate my feeling is we
should only rattle their key back other
dry and really go home turns up so much
chicken to him by like mean British
press by Britain in general basically
but no one appreciates his films at all
and he's been gone for 30 years because
he believes in it and somehow managed to
won all the money of somebody and I mean
and he's still he's still committed to
doing it and in his way when I'm sure
most people just said soon can what you
just try doing this oh you could do it
make some money on this one or drop this
we [ __ ] with it we kept with it the film
put in front of you the fact that it's
possible to fight together and it's
great to fight together and we are
always more this is a very important
thing in the film I had a free hand
early I can't blame anybody and if it's
no good I can't of excuses the only
pressure was to do justice to the story
to do justice to the writing to do
justice to the people in the film to do
justice to all the other people veterans
who we met our heroes and and so to do
justice to their experience are there
her suffering till the piglet in sahaja
yoga okay nuvola case a Gestapo Leto que
no que tu nombre Sun table positivo
yellow sentido de da de casa la gente lo
que es la libertad lo que espera la
verdad
I think you can't really wind down until
you finish shooting and then it's very
difficult because I mean I'm basically
lazy I think and you've got to keep
yourself screwed up to this sticking
point otherwise once you let it go in
there your loss
and I mean I was lost on too many
occasions and so you've got to get a bad
thing of the next day and you've got to
wake up thinking of the what are you
going to say at 8 o'clock I mean 8
o'clock is that is the moment of horror
when you've got to know where to put the
camera turning over and face those are
mundo get on the stuff you all right
boom it's a fury legacy no flow solo y
sus leaders are Estados Unidos
conspiracy own cos T star
oh say porque me pongo be sentimental
los vamos a nacho mucho mucho y so barra
de navidad en tres cuatro de Jerez no
Angela era
pero acabou tantos Annabel or Arabic
lado senado the process of betrayal
really is just just been a constant
throughout the century we're kind of in
this seemingly unending crisis which
beasts can't escape from I mean it's
quite clear that that system will never
reach equilibrium the thing will never
balance so in the end yes sure it has to
be changed
and if you just like to stay a minute
because I've got something to say and
the other day I found this mummy
granddad's papers and I just like to
read it out I'm really sad that my
granddad didn't live to see like true
socialism cuz I know he for free but at
least he warmed his hands in the fire so
this is a poem by William Morris join in
the battle wherein no man can fail for
whoso fadeth and Dyess yet his deed
shall still prevail I think when you
have these bins like we had doing it and
you tap the commitment and the memory of
commitment of people and you sadly see
even if it's only combative handful of
people really make a commitment to the
politics of the people they were playing
which were revolutionary politics when
you do realize there is a world to be
won there there is an energy there's an
enthusiasm there's an idealism there's a
belief in change which is to be gained
and working with these people makes you
realize that change is possible I don't
know how far it is but in but their
experience has to make you an optimist
in the long term never never see met Ken
I believe I've seen him around someone
says I've seen him the guy that always
says one more time how is that invert
him I thought he was the assistant his
innocence is lethal it's got a steel spy
what was but he knows what he wants and
he gets it yeah I think will be great
yeah not to do with looks though nothing
nothing to do is whatsoever until you do
it somebody else
ah
Oh
ha