Gracia Querejeta portrays Alfredo Landa’s journey from ‘landismo’ to success in Cannes: “It was a cinema that would not exist today”

The filmmakers Gracia Querejeta and Miguel Olid They vindicate the figure of Alfredo Landa in the documentary ‘Landa’which hits theaters on April 17, with the intention of positioning it as a key piece for understanding Spanish cinema and paying tribute to the actor who, among others, won an Honorary Goya and Best Actor at Cannes in 1984.

“Landism is a set of films made in a short time, each one of them made in a not excessively professional manner. But they are a reflection of a homophobic, sexist society, which was that of that moment in the midst of Franco’s regime, and we must not forget that detail. It is a type of cinema that could not have existed before, nor after, and much less now.“, explained Gracia Querejeta in an interview with Europa Press.

The starting point of the documentary is born with the term ‘landista’, an almost obligatory beginning for Olid because “many people associate Landa with it” and has testimonies from colleagues such as José Sacristán, Antonio Resines, Miguel Rellán or Enrique Cerezo, among others, who offer different points of view on Landa’s character or his professional career.

In this historical perspective, the viewer can travel to Franco’s Spain, through small fragments of films such as ‘Once a year, being a hippy doesn’t hurt’, ‘Cateto a port’ or ‘You won’t want the neighbor on the fifth floor’. “What you see is a stupider and more brutal Spain“says Querejeta, who remembers that at that time in Spain “women could not open a checking account until very late” and they depended on their husbands.

Likewise, the voices that participate in ‘Landa’ do not skimp on praise for the actor and his talent for the profession. “He was a normal, simple guy, like anyone else, and he transmitted a lot of tenderness.“Olid details as keys to the great appreciation he achieved from the public. “He was not the handsome guy on duty, he was not a tall or handsome man, but he was simple. He was the average Spaniard of the time“Adds Querejeta.

Furthermore, the filmmaker considers that Landa was able to enjoy the affection and recognition of his colleagues and friends in the profession and the public. “He was a very beloved actor in general. His friends remember him with great affection. I think he is one of the most emblematic actors in Spain“, assured Gracia Querejeta.

Instead, Olid confesses that he has perceived “certain ideological prejudice” around Landa by the profession. “In certain sectors it does not arouse interest due to a prejudice that pigeonholes him with Landism and Francoism“, he comments.

Another of the axes of the film is the contrast between Landa and the figure of the politically committed actor. Olid remembers that the interpreter “doesn’t talk about politics“not even in his memoirs, where in 400 pages he only mentions in passing the actors’ strike of 1975 and presents it more as a labor demand for rest than as an ideological struggle. Faced with contemporaries such as Paco Rabal, Juan Antonio Bardem, Juan Diego or Concha Velasco, who did make their ideas public, Landa chose not to demonstrate, a choice that is contextualized in the documentary as “son of the time“and as a personal way of marking distances.

JAVIER GUTIÉRREZ, THE HEIR OF LANDA

For Querejeta, one of the most valuable discoveries when delving into the figure of Alfredo Landa is the vindication of the actor as a profession. “To me, this idea of ​​saying that the actor is not only an enlightened being, who goes out and plays a role and does it wonderfully, seems exemplary. Being an actor is a job and you have to work just as well when you get roles that you like a lot as when you have roles that you don’t like as much.“, he pointed out.

For his part, Olid claims to have discovered “unknown movies“from Landa’s filmography, where he has found “great work”, such as ‘Paco el Seguro’, a co-production with France in which “is the genesis” of Germán Areta from ‘El crack’; or a film “very bad, very bad” like ‘Professor Eroticus’, in which Landa, characterized as a kind of Albert Einstein with a German accent, wig and invented limp, is “the best thing in the movie.”

“Landa exemplifies the acting profession and was a professional who did everything. Until with ‘The Holy Innocents’ he could choose“, Olid affirmed.

Finally, Querejeta and Olid draw a generational bridge with Javier Gutiérrez, whom they consider a clear heir to Landa. “There is a physical component that leaves no room for doubt, since neither of them are exactly gallants. But they have something more important and that is that both have gone from comedy roles to others with significant dramatic depth“, add both filmmakers.