In 1963, on the outskirts of Ourense, the Benposta estate became a kind of Gallic village in the midst of Franco’s regime. A “democratic and independent republic”, as it was defined by its creators, who called it ‘The city of boys’. Among them was the omnipotent figure of the priest Jesús César Silva Méndez, the true ideologist of the project, who obtained land of more than 14 hectares of land until then abandoned to build a town that had its own laws, its own currency, its own elections (while, outside, the dictatorship was still at ease), and even its own television.
Father Silva’s idea was that his creation would serve as a refuge for children and young people abandoned to their fate or without economic possibilities. They were the driving force of this city that also gave them a job by creating a circus school that became an international phenomenon that took those kids on international tours. The boys’ circus was an absolute success in Spain and beyond the borders, which led to attempts to replicate that utopia in other countries.
Father Silva’s dream ended in 2003. It was, ironically, democracy that little by little undermined the project, which also closed with accusations of mistreatment by several of the children towards some of the older students. Accusations that also came in the middle of the confrontation that was the final blow, that of Silva and Manuel Fraga, already president of Galicia, for the land where he settled and that he wanted to use for urban projects (from a soccer field to buildings with those who exploit the speculation boom).
The history of this circus is, in some way, that of Spain, and that was one of the reasons that Elías León Siminiani, filmmaker who won the Goya for Best Short Film for Emotional architecture 1959 and responsible for true crimes as The Alcàsser case. For him, Benposta was the “last known utopia” and he dedicates the five episodes that make up it to her. The boys’ circushis documentary series that can now be seen on Prime Video and where he analyzes the rise and subsequent fall of Father Silva’s dream. To do this, he talks to the kids who are still there, those who abandoned, those who ended up in a bitter argument with their creator and reconstructs – with a lot of material recorded by his own protagonists – a story so implausible that only non-fiction could address it.
The director knew the history of the city of boys because of “its more pop aspect,” and provides a fact unknown to many: the head of Sesame Street It was filmed in a version that existed in Madrid between 1981 and 1984. But it was when the production company Vaca Films approached him with all the archival material, which covered 40 years in more than 800 hours that had been semi-abandoned in Benposta, that he decided doing so upon discovering that behind the circus was this utopian city project. “It was very captivating, very exotic and very strange. An independent, self-managed children’s republic, in the midst of Franco’s regime, in a town in a rural Galician province… Could that be possible? “, he remembers about his first approach.
An independent, self-managed children’s republic, in the midst of Franco’s regime, in a town in a rural Galician province… could that have been possible?
Elías León Siminiani
— Filmmaker
He does not hide that his intention was to portray Spain “from the almost autarkic Franco regime, the late Franco regime, the Transition and the beginning of modern Spain.” “It is still a kind of mirror or microcosm where you can see the dynamics that happen in society at large. What happens with real estate speculation, the whole culture of the 90s is what precipitates, among other things, the end of Benposta. We even see the change in visual file formats. The series begins using material in Super-8, continues in 16 mm, moves to 35 mm, professional video lands and digital arrives.” A “will” that becomes evident “particularly in some very specific milestones such as the death of Franco or the first trip that the Kings made to Argentina, to the Videla dictatorship. “The journey of shame.”
Elías León Siminiani believes that the vital journey of this utopia is the same that has been seen with other “much more contemporary situations, such as when Podemos emerged, or the new political parties, which begin as a completely democratic entity that encourages the construction of views.” criticism and end up being a quite autocratic order in which those critical spirits that have created at some point want to have access to management or power and they cannot find it, so they have to leave or be expelled.
Although it may seem like an oxymoron that a self-managed utopia was born under Franco and died in democracy, the director believes that it has a meaning, and it was the situation “in a Francoist Spain in which there are very high educational deficiencies, particularly in areas remote, and at a time when many people are leaving to emigrate. When democracy arrives, with the implementation of the welfare society, there begin to be many more schools and institutes and it no longer makes sense.”
The documentary finds its villain in Manuel Fraga, whose arrival to the government of Galicia becomes one of the great obstacles for the city of boys to survive. Fraga sees in that area an asset to exploit and begins what Elías León defines, with a laugh, as “our Frost against Nixon,” he says in reference to the harsh interview that the journalist David Frost did with Richard Nixon as former president, which was adapted to the cinema in 2008. There he reflects on how great political events in the history of Spain do not have the film they deserve, and he also cites the first debate between González and Aznar. “I think there has been a lot of fear, but also that that is beginning to shake,” he says.
Choosing this story is also a declaration of intentions, to claim a utopia in times of constant dystopias: “What I try to do when I make documentaries, apart from making content that fits within what those who are paying for it need, is make a contribution to society. One thing that makes this story very relevant is precisely to value the concept of utopia. The world is going to shit and there is a lot to learn, not only from the materialization of a utopia, but from the concept of utopia itself. Or simply the very concept of an education that serves to build a better society. Because society today is clearly oriented toward personal achievement and personal triumph and success, not necessarily social.”
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