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La Colonne Durruti / The Durruti Column (1936) (FR VO, NL, EN, BR-PT subtitles)

Publication date: 1936

Topics: anarchisme, anarchist, anarquismo, durruti, durruti column, buenaventura durruti, spanish civil war, peasant revolt, spaanse burgeroorlog, spaanse revolutie, propaganda, spanish revolution

Language: French; English; Dutch; brazilian-portuguese

Item Size: 316.2M

ENGLISH • Epoch film about the Durruti Column, the most famous column of anarchist fighters formed during the Spanish War. Led by Buenaventura Durruti from mid-1936 until his death on 20 November of the same year, this column plays a crucial role in maintaining the Republic in Madrid in the face of the rise of fascism.

Durruti: "It would hardly be worthwhile to dress up as a soldier if we were to be governed again by the pseudo-republicans of 1931; we agree to make great concessions, but let us never forget that we must face war and revolution."

Music: Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner.
Locations: Pina, Siétamo, Bujaraloz (plains of Aragon)

Sequences La Colonne Durruti (1936) 29m10s

10:00:15:00	10:01:20:00	00:01:05:00	The convoy stops on a road in the plain. The cars and trucks are overloaded. Buenaventura Durruti talks with his comrades from the CNT and FAI. Men (and a young woman) with weapons gather in small groups. Shot of a truck with the UGT logo. (Union General de Trabajadores)
10:01:20:01	10:02:50:00	00:01:29:24	The fighters on foot scatter into the hills. Durruti watches the plain with his binoculars. 10:02:16:00 Very brief shot on the soup, then on the fighters on the lookout, and counter shot on the plain they are watching.
10:02:50:01	10:03:52:00	00:01:01:24	The village of Bujaraloz, "occupied without a fight. The fascists had fled before the ardour of our CNT and FAI militiamen". Images of the church, streets and squares of the village. A chalk inscription "Viva la FAI". "The new life is getting organised": shot of a crowd in front of a poster, of a Red Cross truck, then a short sequence on hygiene: smiling, the men wash themselves at the communal well.
10:03:52:01	10:04:40:00	00:00:47:24	Back in the scrubland. Wide shot from a hill. 10:04:03:00 The men take sheep across the river in a boat. On the land, the soldiers act as shepherds and guide the flock. 10:04:30:00 The slaughter of the sheep.
10:04:40:01	10:05:35:00	00:00:54:24	Back to the village. The resting combatants take a siesta in the street. Carts pass in the main street. Then one of the soldiers speaks to his comrades from all parts of Spain, and to the villagers (young, old, women and children). 10:05:22:00 Shot of a militiaman with a head injury.
10:05:35:01	10:06:50:00	00:01:14:24	The column moves off and through the village. Combatants in uniform salute the passing of the camera, perched on a truck, by raising their rifles and saluting with closed fists. Large crowd of people along the procession. Alternating medium shots of Durruti in discussion with soldiers (outside the village) and views of the crowd in the village streets. The men get into a truck. 10:06:45:00 Smiling villagers, including a woman and children in the foreground, greet the fighters with outstretched fists.
10:06:50:01	10:07:40:00	00:00:49:24	The convoy of FAI and CNT jeeps on the flat roads. A glaring discrepancy between the Ride of the Valkyries and the slowness and spacing of the convoy.... 10:07:22:00 The red and black flag is flying in the wind. The men are walking on the road.
10:07:40:01	10:09:00:00	00:01:19:24	Sounds of explosions and images of explosions in the distance. Images of men firing rifles and machine guns. 10:08:07:00 Men digging trenches. 10:08:25:00 Still with the sound of explosions, men are building a fence around the camp. Men are running with their rifles.
10:09:00:01	10:10:05:00	00:01:04:24	Pina de Ebro. After a day of fighting, the CNT had just taken the town of Pina. The rearguard is getting organised. New images of villagers saluting (we recognize villagers from the previous village....!) 10:09:26:00 the men bathe, cut their hair, mow the hay. In the blazing heat, the men are building a new camp. Shot of men drinking from wineskins. Images of the new camp, with its tents. A lamp for sending out light signals.
10:10:05:01	10:11:50:00	00:01:44:24	Plan on an armoured truck marked CNT FAI on which the anarchist flag is flying. The militia waited or dig trenches (interrupted with the commentary that recounts the fight against the fascists on the other side of the Ebro.) 10:11:00:00 Detonations, an explosion in the distance to the side of the village of Pina. Editing several scenes illustrating the fighting (men who shoot) but who a priori do not agree with each other (the landscape is very different from one to the other), alternating with a fixed plan on the village in the distance. Smoke rises from Pina.
10:11:50:01	10:12:33:00	00:00:42:24	Map of Spain. Pina is recaptured. New images of the village; a man keeps watch inside the bell tower; fighters, hidden behind sandbags, are posted under a shed next to the church. Explosion damage to houses. Ruins.
10:12:33:01	10:13:32:00	00:00:58:24	Wide shot of the armoured truck "CNT FAI - Columna Durruti". Some militiamen pose on the truck. Close-up of the bullet holes on the truck, and the riddled flag. 10:12:41:00 Shot of the whole column celebrating their victory (men hold up their fists, guns, and flag). 10:12:50:00 General view of their trucks on the plain. Fighters salute, standing in front of their tent.
10:13:32:01	10:14:29:00	00:00:56:24	The daily routine. The moment of the meal (shots of the pots, of the cook ringing the bell, then of the militiamen presenting their food, staring at the camera). The fighters receive news from the newspapers in Barcelona. 10:14:15:0 A militiaman reads Solidaridad Obrera. 10:14:21:00 The hospital in Pina.
10:14:29:01	10:17:30:00	00:03:00:24	Back on the plain, pictures of the tents. 10:14:50:00 The guns are being set up. 00:15:29:00 The projectiles are being prepared. Field/counter field of shots and explosions in the distance. 10:16:33:00 Succession of shots of men with guns at different points.
10:17:30:01	10:19:25:00	00:01:54:24	When the battle is over, the militiamen walk down the road and return to their cars. Discrepancy between the footage shot in the countryside and the commentary saying that the militia is coming to the town. 10:18:26:00 The soldiers arrive in the deserted village. 10:19:10 They raise the "freedom flag" on the bell tower.
10:19:25:01	10:20:47:00	00:01:21:24	Back to Bujaraloz, headquarters of the column. Trucks are parked in a square. 10:19:51:00 Durruti addresses his troops. 10:20:00:00 A group is massed under a plane, which is going to support the fighters again on their way out. Views of the village streets, militiamen on the balcony, and Durruti with a child. "He always inspires confidence.
10:20:47:01	10:21:30:00	00:00:42:24	The (Soviet) plane, marked with the hammer and sickle, starts to fly. The planes take off and fly.
10:21:30:01	10:21:47:00	00:00:16:24	Back to the village. The young militiamen parade on the trucks. "The FAI eaglets follow in the footsteps of their elders
10:21:47:01	10:22:40:00	00:00:52:24	The column on the march, on the road and across the fields. Commentary again shifted "step by step we fight".
10:22:40:01	10:27:34:00	00:04:53:24	Again the map of Spain. Other names appear: Huesca, Sietamo, Zaragoza. Blurred images shot in the fields, poor sound. Militiamen wait in trenches. The fighting resumes, this time to take Sietamo: alternating shots of the village in the distance, shots of a plane, and shots showing the militiamen in combat with their rifles. Heavy fire. The fighters are advancing towards the town. 10:27:04:00 A wounded man being evacuated on a stretcher.
10:27:34:01	10:29:08:00	00:01:33:24	The fighters run through Siétamo. They collect weapons, evacuate the wounded, cut their way through walls with pickaxes. The ruined village smokes. "At last Setmaos (sic) is taken. Bravo, comrades of the FAI, bravo comrades of the CNT who fight for freedom." End.