🚀 go-pugleaf

>
> luistxo wrote:
>
> >> 1. There is nothing like Basque-language cinema. Only some attempts
>      from time to time. That is a fact. <<

Eneko San Gil wrote:

>   that fact has little to do with
>   movies that reflect basque life
>   o basque's whereabouts. to me,
>   today's e.h is well represented
>   with the movies that have been
>   released recently.

** With such an argument, we can safely say that "Viva Zapata" is a very
Mexican movie. After all, the story is set in Mexico, most of the extras
are Mexican. Hell, even the title is Mexican Spanish. Never mind that
the soundtrack, script, etc. is in English or that Marlon Brando spoke
fluent American. Likewise, the made-in-Hollywood movie, The Old Gringo,
was actually an integral part of Mexican cinema even though Gregory
Peck, the star of the film, speaks no Spanish.
Dr. Zhivago was probably the greatest box-office hit that Russian cinema
ever had.

Basqueness, like any other -ness" is not a black and white quality. It
is rather fuzzy and inconsciously measurable on a scale in people's
minds. Deny this at your own risk.


For example, which person, in Madrid, would be considered more Basque,
someone named Xabier Etxeberria Sarrionaindiagerrabeitia or Juan
Martinez Gil. The answer is obvious. Less obvious would be a case such
as  who sounds more Basque, Gaizka Martinez or Juan Maria Goicoechea?
Indeed, this can be transposed to anything. Which sounds more Spanish,
Carlos Westendorp or Jose Cuerda? Which sounds more French, Jean-Pierre
DuBois or Jean Schlumberger?

Certainly, which film would be more "Basque", one in which everything is
in Spanish or one in which everything is Basque, regardless of the
setting? I contend that a film in Basque is inherently more Basque than
a film in Spanish, no matter where the setting is. A film in Spanish is
inherently more Spanish than one in English, no matter where the setting
is.




>
> >>    2. Medem, Calparsoro, Alex de la Iglesia, Imanol Uribe... These
>   people make Spanish cinema. Good cinema, perhaps. <<
>
>   spanish cinema? just because the
>   languaje is castilian? i never heard
>   about such school. see.. 'smoke
>   signals' was directed by an native
>   american, (indian). languaje was
>   english, american with indian accent
>   if you care. would you say that's
>   an american movie, and not about
>   those indians? you'd be out of your
>   mind.

** Did you ever see Dances with Wolves? The fact that Lakhota was used
lent more realism to the film and certainly more American.


>
>
>
>  like i said, you seem to be looking
>  for something special.. like "basqueness"
>  as you understand it. if the same movies
>  would have been shot in euskera, would you
>  say then, those are "basque movies"?
>  if that's your understanding of basqueness
>  think about the producers..

** In a world where Leonardo di Caprio is perfectly fluent in Castilian
Spanish, Mexican Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese,
Italian, and Arabic, thanks to the dubious art of dubbing, I reject such
an argument. The main problem is that the producers were educated in
Franco era schools. They may not be Spanish nationalists but they've got
Spain on the brain, drummed into them after a couple of decades of
schooling. They can't help it. After seeing and filling out so many maps
of Spain, not to mention having to endure "Foracion del Espiritu
Nacional", they are what they are.




they
>  don't want to risk money in a narrow
>  market. all in all, those spanish-languaje
>  movies are gonna be screened all over
>  spain

** Spain is a very small country in geopolitical terms. It can't even
compare with California.With such arguments as "the narrow market",
everybody should just start making films in English, the real jackpot
market.

, and if good, collect some $.
>  there may be other reasons, like the
>  director's actors unability to speak
>  basque, or the lack of a good script
>  in basque, i.e the basque director mother
>  tongue being spanish, or french for that
>  matter.

** Here, for once, I agree with you. Erdaldoons (both the French and
Spanish types) are most often linguistically challenged like most other
creatures of imperialism (e.g. Americans, Englishmen, Russians, Chinese,
etc.). It is no accident that nearly all children of imperialism usually
have the very worst accents in whatever second language they speak, that
is, in the rare case, if they actually do know one.



>
>   it's your impression, but no. the
>   point, was communication (or lack of
>   thereof) does not depend ultimately
>   on the languaje you use. a bigger
>   obstacle is a barrier, a lines and
>   the a priori margination based on
>   the person knowledge of languajes
>   or culture.

** The language (the correct spelling) used in a film provides the
flavour of the film. Of course, the main gist of a film can be conveyed
in any language as the awkward Spanish dubbing shows. Remember the film
I mentioned above, "Viva Zapata", that masterpiece of Mexican cinema
starring Marlon Brando? The Spanish dubbers, imbued with endless wisdom,
endowed with unheard-of talent, and pressed for time, dubbed the
"Mexican" masterpiece, orginally shot in English, into ... get this ....
Castilian Spanish!!!! Certainly, the message of the film was understood
by all Spaniards whose linguistic flair and variety is numbed by the
dumbing down effect that Spanish dubbing dutifully provides.
     I don't know how much English Mr. San Gil actually knows but I
suggest that he should watch a film like "Lion King" in the original
English version. There, you will see just how powerful and suggestive
language choice is. Mufassa speaks with a proud West African accent. His
aristocratic brother, the evil Scar, speaks with an arrogant Oxbridge
accent. The hero of the film, like all heros in American films, of
course, speaks in red-blooded, red-white-and-blue American. The Meercat
in the film speaks with a lowly Brooklyn accent. The hyenas speak in New
York street smart slang, etc. The secretary bird, played by Mr. Bean,
speaks in a posh English civil servant accent. The baboon has a kind of
Jamaican accent.

Now, if everybody in the film is speaking the same language, English,
why all the fuss with all the accents? Because they provide texture and
resonance to the film, which is the very reason why the dubbing I have
to put up with in this country is flat at best, and wholly artificial at
worst (both Basque and Spanish dubbing).
    Thus, I repeat, a film about the Basque Country has a different
texture, a different feel to it than one in Spanish, or in English, or
French, or Swahili. I know this is hard for someone brought up with
Spanish-dubbed films but those of us who speak English, we know that
Bogey and James Stewart never quite come off the same in anything else
with the original. NO, Mr. San Gil, there is more to language than just
verbs, noun phrases and grammar and the choice thereof does make a
tremendous difference in the final analysis .... and final product.


Mikel Morris,
who hates dubbing