Viva la Muerte (film)

Last updated
Viva la muerte
1971 French theatrical release poster for Arrabal's film Viva la muerte.jpeg
Directed by Fernando Arrabal
Written by Fernando Arrabal
Produced by Hassen Daldoul
Jean Velter
Starring Mahdi Chaouch
Anouk Ferjac
Núria Espert
Cinematography Jean-Marc Ripert
Edited by Laurence Leininger
Production
companies
Isabelle Films
SATPEC
Distributed byAlliance Releasing Corporation
Release date
  • 12 May 1971 (1971-05-12)
Countries France
Algeria
Morocco
Spain
Portugal
Philippines
Brazil
Italy
Languages French
Italian
Spanish
Portuguese
Arabic
Filipino
Tagalog
Cebuano
Berber

Viva la Muerte (English: Long Live Death) is a 1971 internationally-produced drama film shot in Algeria, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Philippines, Morocco and Tunisia and directed by Fernando Arrabal. [1] The film was released on 12 May 1971 and Arrabal drew on his own childhood for inspiration for the movie. [2] Viva la Muerte takes place at the end of the Spanish Civil War, telling the story of Fando, a young boy whose father was turned in to authorities as a suspected communist by his Falange-sympathizing mother. It has gained cult popularity as a midnight movie. The opening credits sequence features drawings by artist, actor and novelist Roland Topor.

Contents

Synopsis

When Fando's fascist-sympathizing mother turns his father in to the authorities as a suspected communist, Fando (Mahdi Chaouch) is told that his father was executed. In truth the father is actually just imprisoned and Fando eventually begins to search for him, constantly imagining what his father might be up to or what might have happened to him.

Cast

Reception

Allmovie gave Viva la Muerte four stars, remarking that the film's extreme visuals would make it "not for the faint of heart". [3] The New York Times gave the film a mostly positive review, stating that while it was "no perfect movie, it seems to me inescapably a major work." [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernandel</span> French actor (1903-1971)

Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin, better known as Fernandel, was a French comic actor. Born in Marseille, France, to Désirée Bedouin and Denis Contandin, originating in Perosa Argentina, a town located in the province of Turin, Italy, he became a comedy star, first gaining popularity in French vaudeville, operettas, and music-hall revues. His stage name originated from his marriage to Henriette Manse, the sister of his best friend and frequent cinematic collaborator Jean Manse. So attentive was he to his wife that his mother-in-law amusingly referred to him as Fernand d'elle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernando Arrabal</span> Spanish writer and actor (born 1932)

Fernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist, and poet. He was born in Melilla and settled in France in 1955. Regarding his nationality, Arrabal describes himself as "desterrado", or "half-expatriate, half-exiled".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claude Lelouch</span> French filmmaker and writer (born 1937)

Claude Barruck Joseph Lelouch is a French film director, writer, cinematographer, actor and producer. Lelouch grew up in an Algerian Jewish family. He emerged as a prominent director in the 1960s. Lelouch gained critical acclaim for his 1966 romantic melodrama film A Man and A Woman. At the 39th Academy Awards in 1967, A Man and a Woman won Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film. Lelouch was also nominated for Best Director. While his films have gained him international recognition since the 1960s, Lelouch's methods and style of film are known for attracting criticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papa Wemba</span> Congolese musician (1949–2016)

Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba, known professionally as Papa Wemba, was a Congolese singer and musician who played Congolese rumba, soukous, and ndombolo. Dubbed the "King of Rumba Rock", he was one of the most popular musicians of his time in Africa and played an important role in world music. He was also a fashion icon who popularized the Sape look and style through his musical group Viva la Musica, with whom he performed on stages throughout the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippe Caubère</span>

Philippe Caubère is a noted French film actor, writer and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yves Robert</span> French director (1920-2002)

Yves Robert was a French actor, screenwriter, director, and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roland Topor</span> French writer, screenwriter, actor and painter

Roland Topor was a French illustrator, cartoonist, comics artist, painter, novelist, playwright, film and TV writer, filmmaker and actor, who was known for the surreal nature of his work. He was of Polish-Jewish origin. His parents were Jewish émigrés from Warsaw, Poland. He spent the early years of his life in Savoy, where his family hid him from the Gestapo.

<i>Good Night, and Good Luck</i> 2005 historical drama film

Good Night, and Good Luck is a 2005 historical drama film about American television news directed by George Clooney, with the movie starring David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey Jr., and Frank Langella as well as Clooney himself. The film was co-written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, and it portrays the conflict between veteran journalist Edward R. Murrow (Strathairn) and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, especially relating to the anti-communist Senator's actions with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir Cosma</span> Romanian musician (born 1940)

Vladimir Cosma is a Romanian composer, conductor and violinist, who has made his career in France and the United States.

Panic Movement was an art collective formed by Fernando Arrabal, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Roland Topor in Paris in 1962. Inspired by and named after the god Pan, and influenced by Luis Buñuel and Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty, the group concentrated on chaotic and surreal performance art, as a response to surrealism becoming mainstream.

<i>Dracula and Son</i> 1976 French film

Dracula and Son is a 1976 French comedy horror film directed and written by Édouard Molinaro. The film is about a vampire father and son. Christopher Lee reprises his role as Count Dracula from the Hammer Films Dracula film series.

<i>She Killed in Ecstasy</i> 1971 film

She Killed in Ecstasy is a 1971 West German-Spanish erotic thriller film directed by Jesús Franco. The film's plot borrows elements from previous Franco films Miss Muerte and Venus in Furs. The film's productions staff includes many cast members and nearly the same crew as his previous film Vampyros Lesbos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1971 Cannes Film Festival</span>

The 24th Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 27 May 1971. The Palme d'Or went to The Go-Between by Joseph Losey.

Roger Frappier is a Canadian producer, director, editor, actor, and screenwriter.

<i>Viva Riva!</i> 2010 film directed by Djo Tunda Wa Munga

Viva Riva! is a 2010 Congolese crime thriller film written and directed by Djo Tunda Wa Munga. Starring Patsha Bay, Manie Malone, Fabrice Kwizera, Hoji Fortuna, Marlene Longage, Alex Herabo & Diplôme Amekindra, the film received 12 nominations and won 6 awards at the 7th Africa Movie Academy Awards, making it the most awarded film in the history of the AMAA's up to that date.

<i>The Diabolical Dr. Z</i> 1966 film

The Diabolical Dr. Z is a 1966 horror film directed by Jesús Franco. The film stars Mabel Karr as Irma Zimmer, a surgeon who creates a machine that turns people into zombified slaves. Ms. Zimmer is the daughter of a Professor Zimmer, who was hounded to his death several years earlier by four of his scientific associates. Zimmer uses the machine to control an erotic dancer named Miss Muerte who uses her long poison-tipped fingernails to murder the people Ms. Zimmer holds responsible for her father's death.

<i>The Book of Life</i> (2014 film) 2014 film by Jorge R. Gutierrez

The Book of Life is a 2014 American animated fantasy adventure comedy film directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez in his feature directorial debut and written by Gutierrez and Doug Langdale. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Animation, Reel FX Animation Studios, and Chatrone, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Guillermo del Toro, Brad Booker, Aaron D. Berger, and Carina Schulze produced the film. It features the voices of Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, and Channing Tatum, with supporting roles from Ice Cube, Ron Perlman, Kate del Castillo, and Christina Applegate. Based on an original idea by Gutierrez, the film tells the story of a bullfighter who embarks on an afterlife adventure to fulfill the expectations of his family and friends on the Day of the Dead.

<i>I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse</i> 1973 French film

I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse is a 1973 French surreal drama film directed by Fernando Arrabal. The film first released on November 22, 1973 in France and stars George Shannon as an epileptic man who, falsely suspected of murdering his mother, flees to the desert where he meets a hermit and brings him back to the city where the hermit becomes a circus performer.

References

  1. Brown, Edward G (June 1984). "Arrabal's VIVA LA MUERTE! From Novel to Filmscript". Literature Film Quarterly. 12 (2): 136. Archived from the original on 2014-01-02. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  2. Crouse, Richard (2008). Son of the 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen. ECW Press. p. 277. ISBN   978-1550228403.
  3. "Viva la Muerte". Allmovie. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  4. Greenspun, Robert (October 26, 1971). "Viva La Muerte (1971) Screen: Arrabal's 'Viva la Muerte'". NYT. Retrieved 2 January 2014.