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Buried memories of the Spanish Civil War come to the surface as a woman searches for the remains of her grandfather’s father and discovers the story of an idealistic young teacher from Tarragona. Nana Composed by Manuel de Falla. I was lucky enough to discover this film on a Singapore Airlines flight! It tells the story of a beautiful progressive teacher, a follower of the little-known and quite revolutionary “Frienet Method”, who tries it out in a small village school in rural Spain. Bad timing! She meets a local priest, a murdered authoritarian author, and is then attacked by the incoming authoritarian government and Franco’s troops in the run-up to the Spanish Civil War. They beat him, parade him almost lifeless in front of their young students, then murder him and dump his body, never to be found. The film rediscovers his story through the attempts of a great-granddaughter to find one of his students in the mass grave of her great-grandfather’s own burial. I found this very moving and a wonderful testament to the humanity and spirit of this teacher. It deserves more attention and exposure at least in the arts community in the UK, Europe and where I live in Australia. Unfortunately the “true story” book it is based on does not seem to be available in English yet.
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