‘La Laguna Negra’, the cursed adaptation of Antonio Machado’s work, arrives restored to FlixOlé

‘The Black Lagoon’ adaptation of the poem by Antonio Machado ‘The land of Alvargonzález’ and one of the “damned” films from Spanish cinema, comes to FlixOlé. The reference platform for national cinema recovers the film directed in 1952 by Arturo Ruiz-Castillo in a version restored in the streaming service’s own laboratories that will be available in its catalog starting on next Friday, November 8th.

The film brings to the big screen the romance ‘The Land of Alvargonzález’ (included in the collection of poems ‘Campos de Castilla’) recounting the dark story of a terrible crime as a representation of popular culture and legends of the peninsular interior.

‘The Black Lagoon’ is one of the first adaptations of Antonio Machado, presented in movie theaters during the Franco dictatorship. Talking then about the writer of the Generation of ’98 was difficult, and even more so in the case of Ruiz-Castillo, who had ties to the Republican environment during the race. In fact, and after numerous difficulties before and after its production, including several brushes with censorshipthe movie was released covertly in some Spanish provinces and it did not reach theaters in the capital until a year after filming had concluded.

Before the film’s arrival in the FlixOlé catalogue, in collaboration with Filmoteca Española, ‘The Black Lagoon’ can be seen in the Doré cinema on Wednesday, November 6, in a screening that will take place in Room 1 at 9:00 p.m. and in which the representative of FlixOlé will intervene, Miguel Lopez.

‘The Black Lagoon’ is set in the Urbión mountain range, where the Martín brothers (José María Lado) and John (Tomas Blanco), instigated by the former’s wife, Candelas (Maruchi Fresno), They end their father’s life and sink his body in the lake to inherit his estate. Neighbors and authorities suspect that his children are involved in the man’s disappearance, who blame an innocent peddler.

The spirit of the deceased haunts Juan, whose feeling of guilt begins to make Martín and his wife nervous, while a curse seems to fall on the lands. and lives of all of them. Miguel (Fernando Rey), the youngest of the three brothers returns home after making his fortune in the Americas. The young and rich Indian will try to reveal the unknowns surrounding the disappearance of his father with the help of Ángela (María Jesús Valdés), Juan’s wife and with whom he had a relationship in the past.

CHRONICLE OF BLACK SPAIN

As Machado already did in his romance, Ruiz-Castillo constructed a chronicle of black Spain that interspersed customs with biblical passagescoexisting the pilgrimages, farmhouses and gossip of the locals with the divine punishment for those people those that envy corrodes (the blood of Cain). The characters develop in this way in a climate of constant suspense, where hatred, greed and cruelty emerge between steep peaks.

To achieve the gloomy atmosphere that permeates ‘La Laguna Negra’, filming moved to the lands that inspired the poet’s stanzas (exchanging the Picos de Urbión for the Sierra de Gredos). This involved lodging the cast, technicians and assistants in mountain shelters, which also entailed numerous hours of travel by coach and even on horseback by the entire team.

To the hard work that contributed to bring the harsh and hostile landscape closer The technical solvency was added to narrate what, today, is one of the few cinematographic examples of Castilian poetry. In full creative maturity, The director deployed a whole range of resources with which he conveyed the bitter look of a country that had been fiercely shaken by violence with its civil struggles.

With the incorporation of this renewed version of ‘The Black Lagoon’an appreciated rarity in the cinema of the time, to the FlixOlé catalogue, the platform makes available to the public a work that is difficult to access while hoping to bring to mind the author of the film and continue with its determined commitment to making known the best Spanish films restored in unbeatable image and sound quality.