THE 34th PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, DAY 17

"the last circus," spain, dir. alex de la iglesia

spain must be doing some soul searching lately. like "black bread" (day 15), the story of a poor rural village in catalonia struggling to deal with the disinterring of its ugly past in the years following the spanish civil war, "the last circus" is a not too flattering scrutiny of iberian ideological identities and what it meant to be spanish in the middle twentieth century. the film opens in 1937 with the forced conscription of a circus troupe into the republican army. after his capture, the troupe's happy clown bequeaths his son, javier, with the responsibility of the troupe's revenge on the facists. javier will only ever be a sad clown, and it's in that role that he -- transition to 1973 -- joins the troupe of the happy clown sergio, a sadistic alcoholic whose ability to make children laugh while in costume is the lifeblood of his circus. sergio's acrobat girlfriend natalia is at turns drunkenly infatuated on his sexual prowess and physical dynamism and terrified at knowing that the sexual passion will give way to total subjugation and beatings. she's immediately drawn to javier's mild manner and quiet pride. but, when the happy and sad clowns come to physical conflict over the lady's affections, "the last circus" turns quickly from a dramatic metaphor into a slasher farce of ideological zealousness. both of them now disfigured, the clowns terrorize madrid, alienating natalia who has come to fear them both. still, "the last circus" is infused with wild color and humor (it's about a circus in the 1970s, after all), which temper the somberness of its themes -- the audience should laugh at the same time as it takes everything very seriously, another extension of the metaphor of the happy and sad clowns. i was enthralled from the opening credits, which feature a fast photo roll of spanish history from the civil war to the present set to a military march and a flamenco tango, a brilliant satire of francoist national identity construction. franco gets his hand bit by the sad clown at one point during the movie. that was pretty funny.

"even the rain," spain, dir. icíar bollaín

i probably should have gone to this one to see what spain's been about outside of reflections on the civil war, but, to be honest, i wasn't interested enough to drag myself to one final film. no sweat, though, it was spain's submission for best foreign language film oscar, and it's got gael garcía bernal. i'll have another chance. but i probably won't feel like paying.