Ramón Sender (1902-1982) was a prolific writer whose career began in the 1930s and who like many other Spanish intellectuals, left Spain for exile during the Franco regime. His works have served not only as the basis for feature-length films, but for made-for-television movies, as well. Spanish filmmakers have adapted two of the nine books that make up Ramón Sender's Crónica del alba (Chronicle of Dawn). The first is Antonio J. Betancor's Valentina (1982), based on the first book, which has the same title as the series. Betancor's 1919, Crónica del alba, which was released the following year, represents the adaptation of the fourth book (El mancebo y los héroes [The Young Man and the Heroes1). Sender's most famous novel, Requiem por un campesino español (Requiem for a Spanish Peasant) made its way to the screen in 1985. Both Valentina and 1919, Crónica del alba are films that were subsidized by Televisión Española (Spanish Television) in a competition that called for the screen adaptation of important works of Spanish literature.
The temporal framing of the narrative in Valentina provides a bittersweet tone to this story of the indomitable spirit of youth, and of the protagonist, Pepe Garcés. The initial voice-over of the film refers to the time long ago in 1939 when the narrator and other members of the Republican army had to seek refuge in France. He met Garcés while imprisoned there, and the latter's dignity, faith, and memories provided a special sustenance that helped him survive. In the opening sequence, this narrator visits Valentina Ventura to inform her that Pepe died in a concentration camp, and to give her his memoirs. The flashback to 1911 constitutes the rest of the narration until a final epilogue that ties this past to the event that fatally marks Pepe's adult life: the Spanish civil war.
Pepe (Jorge Sanz) is a mischievous and free-spirited youth who is constantly reprimanded and chastised by his strict father, Don José (Saturno Cerra). The opening sequences of the flashback capture the clash of these two diametrically opposed temperaments: Pepe shoots at cats with a slingshot from his rooftop, and after reviewing his academic work, his father announces at the dinner table that Pepe's behavior will bring the family shame and vilification, and that he must be punished with twenty lashes. The visual metonymy of the close-ups of a girl1s braids, shoes, and hair ribbon that are intercut while the punishment is being administered introduces the emotional bond between the victim, Pepe, and the girl he loves, Valentina (Paloma Gómez). A series of subsequent images confirms this amorous bond between them: Pepe encounters Valentina in the street and they go running off holding hands; he kisses Valentina in the street; Pepe communicates from his rooftop to Valentina in her bedroom by using hand signals, and a close-up shows the girls's deciphered message that "Pepe loves Valentina"; a close-up of Valentina reading a liturgical text about love clearly takes on the second meaning regarding their own relationship; and the reverse angle shot near the end of the film of Pepe and Valentina sitting embracing on the rooftop with the town in the background completes the bond between the two youths.
The idyllic nature of this tale of adolescent love is constantly threatened by the undercurrent of fratricidal conflict. Pepe views Valentina's cousin Julián (Damián Jareño) as a rival mainly because he identifies him on more than one occasion as "el hijo de un político nefasto" (the son of a stinking politician), connoting an ideological division in society, since Pepe is echoing the opinion of his father. Pepe attempts to eliminate this rival in a show of machismo, as he puts his finger at the end of the barrel of Julián's gun and tells him to shoot. Although Pepe stoically declares that the resulting wound is merely like a mosquito bite, the physician who later attends him states that if he had waited one more day, he would have had to amputate his finger. The physician calls Pepe a hero, but the reaction of Pepe's father, "Aquí estamos todos locos" (We are all crazy here) not only contradicts it, but must be read in the broader context of Spanish society and the wounds that its members will inflict upon each other. A river battle between two bands of young boys must also be read metaphorically as representing the future fratricidal conflict, as the two groups of boys line up on either bank of the river to attack each other. The battle gets out of hand when a group of adults in a rowboat attacks the boys, and Pepe responds by shooting a pistol, again showing his fearless character. What was merely a joke for the men (shooting at the boys with salt to scare them) gets out of hand and transcends both the adolescent rivalry and the ill-conceived prank that began the incident.
Although Pepe escapes punishment for his involvement in the river battle, he cannot do so when he kills several pigeons that Valentina's father had purchased in Zaragoza for breeding purposes. In contrast with his tyrannical father, Pepe befriends a father figure in the village priest, Mosén Joaquín (Anthony Quinn), who becomes Pepe's teacher and friend. Román (262) notes that the heightened duality in the film version between the intransigence of Pepe's father and the understanding nature of the priest ac1ds a new dimension to the film narrative. Mosén Joaquín's principal lesson for Pepe does not involve Pythagoras's theorem or the fossi1s that they discover together, however, but rather the theory that the priest reads from an ancient family manuscript: there are three types of men-saints, poets, and heroes-and that Pepe must consider what type of man he will be. Pepe's father thinks that the boy is a poet, since he discovers rhymes by Bécquer in Pepe's room, but the fearlessness that Pepe shows throughout the narrative points to his heroism, and the final episode in the tunnels under the castle confirms the boy's bravery. The multiple images of a ghost in armor who wants to take Pepe away are the manifestations of a dream sequence that might scare a normal youth, but not Pepe. He calls the name of his beloved-true love provides empowerment. His escape with Valentina, however, is the straw that breaks the camel's back; the Civil Guard has to be called in to search for them, and his father announces that tomorrow Pepe will begin life at boarding school. The intercut close-ups of Pepe and Valentina when his father sends the boy to his room indicate that their love for each other will transcend any spatial separation. Nevertheless, the final scene of Pepe running after the automobile that takes Valentina and her family away, as she leans out the window to wave good-bye, represents a poignant separation that seems all too definitive.
Pepe's friendship with the priest also transcends time. As he departs, Mosén Millán eschews a simple handshake in favor of a warm embrace. However, the response to Pepe's final question to the priest, "¿Por qué matan a los héroes?" (Why do they kill heroes?), is a foreshadowing of his death in the war: "Desgraciadamente, cuando seas hombre ya lo vas a entender" (Unfortunately, when you are a man, you will understand). Although the temporal framework provided us with the information regarding Pepe's fate from the very beginning, the epilogue poignantly links Pepe's tragic adult experiences with these days of innocence: "José Garcés spent many years at a boarding school in Reus, and went a long time without seeing Valentina. One day, he woke up under the frost of dawn, worried that Valentina might have known the horrors of war." Valentina is a delightful movie. The haunting score by Riz Ortolani contains Valentina's theme (which is repeated in harpsichord, piano, and orchestral versions), and the many long shots of the picturesque town and castle add to the visual beauty of the film. Much of the charm of this film adaptation stems from the excellent performances by two ten-year-o1d actors, Paloma Gómez and Jorge Sanz, as well as that of Anthony Quinn. Sanz would later go on to become one of the most important actors in contemporary Spanish cinema. Quesada (288) points out that the casting of Quinn in the role of Mosén Joaquín is undoubtedly a reason for the greater development of this character in the film version. Román (264) notes that Sender was able to capture many manifestations of child psychology in his original narrative, and that Betancor aptly uses them to add life to the film adaptation. Betancor follows the story of the original novel faithfully, with some condensation of the final episodes, such as when Pepe's father sends him to boarding school for fighting.
About 1919, Cronica del alba (Chronicle of dawn)
The year after Valentina, Betancor continued with Pepe's saga in 1919, Crónica del alba (1919, Chronicle of Dawn, 1983). This film-at least in video format-exists in two versions, one with a frame of documentary footage from the Spanish civil war, and one without ¡t. The initial voice-over narrative, which accompanies images of Spaniards fleeing across the border into France or leaving Spain by train, introduces the protagonist, Pepe Garcés, now thirty-five years of age, who has become a refugee. As he feels that his end is near, he clings to his memories, taking refuge in them in order to survive. The memories of his life as a student in Zaragoza constitute the narrative of this film.
The action occurs four years after the ending of the previous narrative. Classmates of fifteen-year-o1d Pepe (Miguel Molina), chant Valentina's name; this confirms that she is still Pepe's girlfriend, thus picking up the action from the earlier film. The friction between Pepe and his father continues, but now takes on political nuances, as the former accuses Pepe, who is holding a newspaper, of reading liberal publications. This political element continues in the following sequence, as Pepe stops by a newspaper stand as close-ups show the headlines of radical newspapers of the period-El fusil (The Rifle), E 1 motín (The Revolt)-and Lucas (José Antonio Correa) informs the newspaper man Checa (Walter Vidarte) that a Catalan labor leader was assassinated. In the general strike sequence, Betancor gradually increases the level of authoritarian repression of workers: a long shot of the mounted Civil Guard, metonyrnic shots of their horses' hooves, a high-angle shot (from the perspective of Pepe's third-floor window) of people running in the street, the pursuit by mounted guards, and long shots of guards shooting into the air, all culminate in the shooting of a worker by the guards in front of Pepe's apartment. Pepe's reaction manifests his growing solidarity with the working class; although his father prohibits him from leaving the apartment, Pepe mocks his superficial Christianity and rushes-too late-to the worker's aid.
When Pepe goes to work in Zaragoza as an apprentice in a pharmacy his life revolves around his work and his revolutionary and erotic activities. The close-up profile shot of Garcés next to Isabel (Cristina Marsillach) at the movies parallels the close-up profile shot that they are watching on screen, as Svengali hypnotizes a woman to be under his spell. Pepe and Isabel likewise "hypnotize" each other; Pepe's advances during the next movie scene lead to a night of lovemaking during which they both admit to losing their virginity.
Although Pepe's co-workers in the pharmacy warn him that Isabel's cousin ¡s a whore, Pepe continues the relationship. Isabel falls in love, saying, "Quisiera ser tu novia toda la vida" (I would like to be your girlfriend for my entire life), but Pepe counters with, "Mi amante" (My lover). For Pepe, his true love ¡s still Valentina, to whom he writes letters (rendered in voiceover), and whom he visits in Bilbao. Circumstances have changed, however, and Valentina ¡s now at the strict School of the Sacred Heart. When Pepe visits her, it ¡s obvious that they are virtually speaking two languages when Pepe says, "No puedes imaginar, Valentina, lo que es el amor. Yo lo he descubierto ya del todo" (You can't imagine, Valentina, what love ¡s. 1 have now discovered it in its entirety), and she responds, "Yo también. Debe ser por estar tanto tiempo separados" (I have, too. It must be from being separated for so long). Their separation in the hallway of the school, rendered by cross-cut close-ups as a nun leads Valentina away, parallels the farewell at the end of the previous film, but lacks the poignancy of that earlier scene. This farewell, however, ¡s definitive, as the voice-over of Valentina's mother reading her letter to Pepe expresses her desire that he not see Valentina again. Although Isabel was extremely upset by Pepe's visit to Valentina, she returns to be his lover, claiming to be honorable because she ¡s not hypocritical.
Pepe's ideological tendencies are clear from the early sequence in which a close-up of an envelope he ¡s mailing shows that he has written "Viva la Revolución" (Long Live the Revolution) where he will place the stamp. His conversations with Checa and Lucas introduce him to theories of egalitarian ism-"que cada uno vale tanto como el otro" (everybody is worth the same as everybody else)-and anarchism-"hay que destruir el estado" (the state has to be destroyed). Pepe ¡s ingenuous, however, and although he manifests a desire to take revenge for the death of the worker, his supposed means for doing so-the dagger he shows Lucas-manifests his naivete.
Lucas's prediction that "La cosa está al punto" (Things are ripe) soon becomes true, as the pharmacist confirms that the sounds of bombs and shots represent an uprising. As earlier, Pepe runs out to the street in solidarity. The shallow-focused long shot of him running toward the camera with mounted Civil Guards approaching in the background lends a threatening air, but Pepe ¡s a mere spectator as before. The Civil Guards attack the rebels with cannons, and as in the earlier sequence, Pepe obeys the guard who tells him to leave. When the fighting ends, Pepe returns, only to see the Civil Guard march off with their prisoners-including the wounded Lucas-and carry off the dead: Checa, and the Civil Guard with whom Pepe had shared a table at a bar. The close-ups of Pepe crying, and of his cutting out Checa's photograph from the newspaper, underscore the importance to Garcés of the loss of his friend and ideological mentor. As Pepe sits with his head in his hands with the camera shot through the grating of his window-a symbol of his future incarceration-the narrator's voice-over comments: "Aquel día hubiese querido morirse, pero la providencia fue piadosa, o tal vez cruel, quién sabe. Aprender a vivir no era más fácil ni más difícil que aprender a morir" (That day I had wanted to die, but Providence was merciful, or perhaps cruel, who knows. Learning how to live was no easier nor more difficult than learning how to die). The blue-tinted scenes of a concentration camp complete the framing of the film and underscore the message of the final titles. These explain that Sender himself was a prisoner of war, thus manifesting the autobiographical element of the narrative, which ¡s further confirmed by the fact that Sender's maternal surname, Garcés, coincides with Pepe's surname.