Imprescindibles: Juan Antonio Bardem, vitalista militante

A documentary that portrays filmmaker Juan Antonio Bardem on the occasion of his centenary. He was considered ‘the third B’ of Spanish cinema along with Berlanga and Buñuel, and belonged to a long theatrical saga that goes back two generations, with the Bardem and Muñoz Sampedro family branches, and continues into the present with his nephews Carlos, Mónica and Javier Bardem. In the 50s and 60s, the director was at the pinnacle of European auteur cinema, on a par with Antonioni, Fellini, Visconti and Tati, with memorable films such as ‘Comedians’, Death of a Cyclist’, ‘Main Street’, ‘Vengeance’ and ‘Sonatas’, recognised at the most important film festivals, and other less known titles, such as ‘At Five in the Afternoon’, ‘Nothing Ever Happens’ or ‘The Innocents’, a deeply critical film pervaded with a firm ideological stance (Bardem was a committed member of Spain’s Communist Party), which earned him continuous confrontations with Franco’s censorship until he became practically ostracised. Children and nephews, friends, collaborators and actors provide a picture of a filmmaker almost unknown today, like so many others, who was nevertheless an inspired chronicler of an era and continues to represent one the most important contributions to the history of Spanish cinema.