Documentary about how a wealthy family from Barcelona spends the last year of the Spanish Civil War, from the Francoist point of view. The film includes very rare footage of everyday life during the war, as well as reenacted scenes shot after the end of the conflict, and the use of stop motion and archival materials.
"RATAMATA is a portrait of the diverse opinions of Chicagoans (ranging from high school students to habitual mayoral candidate Lars Daly) as they reflect on the general state of affairs in America, the war in Vietnam, social and racial conflict, freedom and personal liberty, happiness, and social justice." Chicago Film Archives
"The true story of a French woman, Madame Baudhuin, who was presented to King George V in 1927 in recognition of her heroism in the Great War. Following a battle in Flanders on 26th August 1914, near Le Cateau, Mme. Baudhuin hid a British soldier, John Herbert Cruickshanks. Despite his discovery and their imprisonment they are saved by the rapid advance of British troops. (EAFA Database)
A 'Musical Direction' credit for Eric Freeman, suggests a specially-composed accompaniment, but no recordings were passed to the IAC (EAFA Database).
"This amateur film attempts to portray conflict within a religious sect where blind adherence to a selfish demanding leader is compared to the freedom offered by progressive contemporary society" Library and Archives Canada.
"Return from Fire, as defined by its producer, Dr. W. Lynwood Heaver, is the "biography of a mental breakdown." In its opening we meet a boy and girl idyllically in love. But the clouds of war fall across their summer sunshine, the young man is called up and, in a short time, is announced as missing in combat. It is then that the fires of apprehension, misery and terror sear into the girl's mind. How modern psychiatry serves, at last, to recall her from this self inflicted limbo is the climactic denouement of Dr. Heaver's drama. The conception of Return from Fire is imaginative and exciting. The acting and its correlative direction are excellent throughout. A provocative musical score contributes markedly to the maintenance of dramatic tension. Dr. Heaver's camera work, rising occasionally to heights of cinematic imagination, is sound, satisfying and suggestive of still greater things to come. Put down his name as one to watch!" Movie Makers, Dec. 1945, 494.
" La segunda primera matriz narraba visual y poéticamente una historia de la humanidad, desde el origen hasta la carrera espacial, como una nueva frontera. En una primera sección, entre tomas de nubes, remolinos y oscuridad, hacía referencia al origen de la vida. (...) Después del lanzamiento del cohete y de las imágenes sobre la exploración del espacio, se ve a una mujer desnuda en el campo. La cámara hace un lento tilt down recorriendo su cuerpo. Al pasar por el pubis sigue a una gota de sangre que comienza a deslizarse por la pierna. Cuando llega al suelo aparece un desfile de tanques de guerra en miniatura, rojos, como los que se habían mostrado anteriormente en la película. La película termina con un cartel que dice 'Pero también se puede parir la nada' " (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
La segunda primera matriz [The second first womb] told visually and poetically a story about humanity, from its origin to the Space Race, as a new frontier. In a first section, amongst shots of clouds, swirls and darkness, it referred to the origin of life. (...) After the launch of a rocket and images about exploring space, the film shows a woman naked in the country. The camera makes a slow tilt down of her body. When passing by the pubis, the camera follows a drop of blood that slides by the leg. When it reaches the floor, a parade of miniature war tanks appear, red, like the ones previously shown. The film ends with a sign that says 'But you can also give birth to nothing' " (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"Silhouette animation that narrated a story about a son at the war, who sends a letter to his father waiting for him in his homeland. The narrative unfolds as the father reads through the letter that reveals the son’s life and circumstances in the war zone. Contemporary reviews indicate that the film included scenes such as a group of soldiers trying to walk through heavy snow, as well as the soldiers attacking into the enemy’s territory. Praised as a jikyoku eiga (film of the times) that not only “touched the audience’s heart” but also provided a new direction for amateur filmmaking under the wartime emergency." - Noriko Morisue, "Filming the Everyday: History, Theory, and Aesthetics of Amateur Cinema in Interwar and Wartime Japan" (Yale University: PhD Dissertation, 2020): 213.
"September Peace, Robert P. Kehoe will tell you, is a film which not only made itself but named itself. It is, patently, a product of this world at war, the unconscious reaction of a sensitive spirit too long abraded by the rough edges of conflict. In it, Mr. Kehoe has found again the lyric loveliness of field and flower, the beneficent sturdiness of great trees, the warmth and beauty of the slanting sunlight. Unusually effective scoring plays its part in creating this moving attestation to the joys of peace." Movie Makers, Dec. 1943, 478.
Un pequeño niño llamado Sergio hace una lista de regalos que desea, en la que incluye un traje de soldado, una metralleta y otras armas. Después Sergio tiene un sueño en el que es un soldado explorando el campo y divirtiéndose con sus armas; el sueño se transforma en pesadilla cuando ve a su familia muerta y cubierta de sangre. Sergio llora y besa a sus familiares muertos para después tirar su metralleta de juguete cubierta de sangre. Después despierta asustado y destruye su lista de deseos.
A little boy named Sergio makes a wish list of gifts that include a soldier suit, a machine gun and other weapons. He then has a dream of himself as a soldier exploring the country and having fun with his guns; the dream turns into a nightmare when he sees his family dead and covered in blood. He cries and kisses the dead members of his family and finally he throws away his toy machine gun covered in blood. Sergio wakes up scared and destroys his wish list.
"Stereotype leans towards the experimental style to give us an insight on the plight of the Negro in the modern world" PSA Journal, Aug. 1967, 37.
Total Pages: 9
Amateur Cinema