The next 26 March reaches the screens Freedom, Movistar +'s latest production, A production led by Bilbao Enrique Urbizu. And when we say it reaches the screens, We refer to all the screens. In an unusual promotion pirouette in these times that run, Movistar+ has opted to get this job in a double format, as miniseries of five episodes for their video on demand and as a feature film for movie theaters.
Freedom It places us in the year 1807. In a dark dungeon, A woman known as La Llanera expects to be released after seventeen years of captivity for her activities outside the law. Her son Juan accompanies her in this new adventure, born in jail. Together they will try to find the freedom of which the series title speaks, far from the world of violence in which they have lived so far. But several obstacles oppose this goal. On the one hand, Juan's father, a dreaded bandit known as “Lizard” who wants to gather the "family" to escape from Spain. On the other, The governor of the area, who has released the llanera as a bait to hunt his former lover and impose his order. These are joined by the interests of a wicked local landowner and another bandit, “The aceituno”, who seeks to take revenge on the governor for the death of one of his gang companions. Of all this and much more we talked to Enrique Urbizu, co-urdidor of this miniseries in this interview that he granted us on the occasion of its promotion. GERARDO LEON
Freedom It is a series set in the nineteenth century, Before the arrival of Napoleonic troops to Spain. Other cinematographies exploit their history very well to build stories for cinema or television. In Spain we do it little, But when we do it usually works well. What do you think is due? Is lack of interest from producers? To the lack of financing?
There has traditionally been a lack of interest due to the high risk of. They are expensive products. And then, There has also been an overload of everyday life in the fiction of recent years. But, If you observe, right now, With the rise of the historical novel, There have been a few television series set at the beginning of the twentieth century, as Tell me who I am o The time between seams. Maybe that is convincing that more can be done. I to the kids, in class, It is the mantra that I repeat them: They have a country with a story that is unbelievable. All the exploration of the American border in the 16th century ... there is a lot of theme. That is to say, An Extremadura discovering the Colorado Canyon! The nineteenth century, For example, It is also a reef. Y, besides, is that you have it half made. There are writers, From Galdós, There is no mandanga!
For the series you have chosen the phenomenon of banditry, typical of that time in which it is set. What attracted you to that context?
I think that from the earliest childhood we had longed to make a bandit history. Miguel Barros, Gonzalo Salazar, The producer, Michel Gaztambide and I, We always walked with the possibility of shooting one day outdoors, With horses ... and, bueno, Movistar dared. They liked the proposal, which was somewhat unheard of because it is not a story that looks like the usual banditers, And it has been exciting. But, I already tell you, It has been since the earliest childhood.
The series claims, besides, A genre that seems to be displaced from contemporary fiction. You commented before, In Spanish production, There is a look too focused on everyday. In that context, Adventure cinema seems to have disappeared, a cinema that the series claims.
Yeah, I have been very surprised because one of the first sensations that I am receiving is that these are times when proposing an adventure story of this type is almost groundbreaking or unheard of, When should be almost familiar. It is a genre that I think we all like. Then, It is a pleasure for sight: The landscapes, The general plans ... because this seems that it is unheard of in these times. It is very curious. No, It does not seem to be the most common in this country.
Do you think there is a fear that the spectator rejects it, precisely to go against that fashion of making a cinema focused on the immediate, As you said?
Bueno, It remains to be seen that the viewer rejects it. In the case of other nationalities, It does not reject it at all. The thing is, Of course, We cannot bet that the viewer will reject what we do not put. If you don't put it, Someone can say, What if rejects it? But another can say, What if you don't reject it? And that's it.
The series begins with a very strong proposition in the mouth of the character of this English who will tell the story and that says that the story will set in a beautiful and cruel Spain. Apart from other readings, There is an obvious subtext in the series that projects us towards the present.
I believe (And we realized when we started writing it), that it is very difficult to watch the series or movie without thinking about the country in which we live today. The series talks about concepts that were fundamental to the political and social development of the country and whose consequences mark the twentieth century and where we are now. There is talk of monarchy, of justice, hateful, etc.
The series has a republican message. That freedom of the characters is not just physical, exterior, It is against power, against the oppression of the monarchies. However, In the end there is a small surprise or contradiction. What was it, in that sense, Your intention?
The intention was to have no intention. Is put the cards on the table on a polyhedral reality that presents contradictions. There are characters with very different postures. The power is represented by the landowner of Don Anastasio's character (Pedro Casablanc), and the power of the political-administrative state that is the governor. Sin spoiler, But you know how both end in the series. However, There is a speeches duel. On the one hand, this “The aceituno”, A scoring and vindictive man who acts for subjective and personal causes, and that no justice or social change is not looking for any, It only looks for revenge. This is answered by the governor with a speech that seems to me the best of the series, And that is the only character that has common sense and, somehow, He knows what he is doing and is aware of his moment and position. That is to say: Protecting trade is to protect the development of the country. To protect trade I will do whatever it takes and I have to govern and, therefore, I execute. That seizure of civil power that seems to represent the governor, Help explain the time. The series is very anti-violent. What he wants “The llanera” is to move your son from violence. And wants to depend on itself, He has no gender awareness, of course, Neither class nor anything. He just wants to get out and get his son from there, and flee from his past. He doesn't get it.
Then there is that thing so to project the hopes of improving the inside. One of the characters dreams of America, Another wants to flee to Portugal, The British is contrasted as a civilized element against a more barbarian country, even primitive. I really liked the way they have the fire, An element that almost refers us to prehistory ...
Yeah, One of the most fucked everyday problems in life in the field. I believe that we would have liked to influence certain realistic or social context of the time more, But it's expensive. You have to adjust to the budget you have, They are very complicated filming. It takes an hour or two to reach the filming set, And between you are out of the city, There are no roads and there is mud, becomes a safari. So, You are very caught and that forces you to synthesize. Oh well, is the gypsy town, We count what are the bandits when they are not bandits, etc. Life in the field should be very hard at that time, especially for women, that were the ones that had to be plowed, a tender, to create, To wait, to everything about the house and take care of the field ... if you are lucky and you have a field. I mean, a much more terrible thing than could be painted.
You have a considerable career with Michel Gaztambide as a screenwriter or travel companion in many of your projects. How does your collaboration work?
Bueno, We talk very frequently. He lives in San Sebastián, I live in Madrid, But it's rare the week that we don't chant, Let's cross things, let's comment ... there the issues usually come out. The same is interested in a topic and marks thirty folios and sends them to me. Then, When we decided to throw somewhere, That part is already face -to -face. We write to four hands. It comes and we locked each other at a table and "to chop stone" (laughter).
At script level, The series is built as if you will jump to the current of a caudalous river or a train that is already underway. There is no presentation of the situation, Everything is happening since before the story begins.
Well look, The river leads me to a word that would be "bend", that is very good and that now I explain you. The key question when it occurred to us to make the feature monitoring is whether we had a central plot line, Because the series has always had a kaleidoscope vocation. It is very coral, I mean, The prominence is very distributed. Freedom It is a permanently interrupted trip that ends up being circular. So, Around the main characters, There are the furry. And these are the intelligence service, What is the old woman, The gypsy town, Casablanc's plot with his daughter, that is quite sordid, the relationship of the governor and the landowner… That is to say, The series is allowed to dispense with the urgency of the argument and mystery to propose a very mobile trip, Very active, Very entertaining, But a trip that invites you to look beyond. It's not like in There will be no peace for the wicked which was a straight line and point. Here's that, RECORDS.
I would like you to tell us how you built that coral. At first, It may seem that “The llanera” She is the protagonist, But then you realize that each character brings an element to the story. In that sense, It is very balanced. What was the greatest difficulty when achieving that balance between characters?
The script was coral, But from the cast, When choosing it, You must take into account the balances, The counterweights. That is how the actor or actress who chooses both influences both, as their relationship with others. From there, what happens, If you have done this well, is that the characters begin to grow, To occupy sites. The most patent example is that of English. When Jorge Suquet arrived, The actor, With that pint, that elegance of him, The character began to occupy his space in the story. And there it is, The uncle. It is not just one that passes by and that serves as an excuse to tell things. He is a very interesting character that serves as a mirror to comment on the reality he is seeing. That's in the script, but then, In the process, You have to take care of it for the characters to breathe and have a clearance.
The landscape is, definitely, Another great protagonists of history. What would you say that it has been the greatest difficulty and your greatest pleasure in facing that landscape?
The most difficult and best is the same thing: be randomly subjected to nature. You see dawn or dusk every day. And that is difficult because you get to some places that you say, fuck, And now start shooting here! That is also the best part: The horses, All that logistics was very desired because in the city filming or evidence. Rolling in nature is wonderful. I would tell you that this has been the most difficult and most beautiful.
Within this new rebirth of television, This the second project of miniseries you have shot. Why have you chosen this format of short chapters? Did it give you the opportunity to try certain things? Do you feel more comfortable when developing stories?
Bueno, It is the series that have chosen me, apparently. But if, I suffered a lot of seventy or eighty minutes per chapter of general televisions, It seemed to me a thing like another planet. Y, personally, as a spectator, forty or forty -five minutes it seems to me that, well done, They are explosive. I mean, Neither pre-climate nor punching. And if, besides, You open the thing to the next chapter, You are writing a leaflet for deliveries and you can pass it by bomb. For filming purposes, I ring in anamorphic with a film team, I do not roll with multi-channels, I plan ... that is, I keep rolling as I rolled the long. And I think there is the variable of the matter.
In this boom of series that is currently being carried out, There has been a confrontation between television and conventional cinema. But it gives me the impression that, After an initial period, Television is tending to the cinema and hence these formats of miniseries are produced, Because they allow a closed story, closer to the usual feature film.
Yeah, I understand you and share quite what you say. There are many formats now on television. The English have a wonderful one that is three chapters of ninety: Sherlock, For example. That is a three -length package and it works very well. Of course, We are talking about Sherlock, a product that, who likes, You will see it. Then, is the serial that you can prolong, as Tell me. That is a non -mood of closure. And if, You have to leave the fucking house sofa as soon as we can. People appreciate a concentrated story of one hundred or two hundred minutes, And now. The key is to succeed with the format and distribution. What the hell is it The Irish? A miniseries or a piece of feature film? Well, It depends on how you put it, But the language is high film voltage and that does not matter if you call it TV or call it cinema.
I think that Freedom It is a series that is very close to western classic. You have worked a lot the genres, especially the thriller, And here I see an intention to create a very typical mythology of the western.
Yeah, This of the western It is very curious because I, As a filmmaker, I have forged in the western. It is something that was before, in There will be no peace o Life stain. Here is western It was a discarded influence, From the beginning. I would talk about a very curious thing that is the pre-western, because the aesthetics you see in the series and that you assimilate to western He advances in almost ninety years when stirring and what you see in the westerns. Spain was on the South American border three hundred years before John Wayne and we wear horses and hats, And the chairs and the arrans ... that is, that there is an entire aesthetic and cultural base in the westerns North Americans, whose base is the explorers and the Spanish colony. It is a curious round trip. But me, I have no shame to say that I am a consumer of westerns, Here was not the influence to take into account because, precisely, He did not make a fucking fucking, We already had the horse and hat.
Let's see how we do it without launching any spoiler Because I wanted you to talk to me about the last plane of the series.
¡Ah, amigo! The plane is obviously an exchange of mine with John Ford. Very obvious. Although, then, It was also a similar technical problem. The technical problem is, For example, Don't have decorated house. That is to say, that you cannot photograph it on the outside, With which you have to photograph it inside (laughter). And then, Of course, Ford is a lot of Ford. There are seven or eight equal frames throughout Desert centaurs, There would be a lot to talk about. But come on, Let's leave it there. I weighed whores rolling that plane, It gave me a lot of shame, But it was like that.
Are you hooked to the miniseries or do you think to return to the feature film?
No, I am not hooked to anything. I would love to make a long. There are good ideas to make other types of miniseries, If this goes well and you can continue with the nineteenth century ... we don't know. Besides, In promotion time it is better not to think about anything you will be wrong, safe (laughter).
