Viva la muerte / Long Live Death / Nech žije smrť

fiction / 1971 / France, Tunisia / col. / 90 min.

This full-length debut by Spanish film rebel Fernando Arrabal was based on his novel titled Baal Babilonia (1958). It is an unusually suggestive and agressive picture where real stories from the author’s childhood during the Spanish civil war are intertwined with surreal images full of cruelty and sadomasochism. Arrabal uses his specific style to recount his memories of life lived under the scrutiny of two sets of eyes – one belonging to his beloved and feared mother and one to the father that he never got the chance to know.

Director: Fernando Arrabal
Screenplay: Fernando Arrabal
Photography: Jean-Marc Ripert
Editor: Laurence Leininger
Music: Jean-Yves Bosseur
Cast: Fernando Arrabal, Mohamed Bellasoued, Mahdi Chaouch, Jean-Louis Chassigneux, Suzanne Comte, Núria Espert, Anouk Ferjac, Victor García, Ivan Henriques, Jazia Klibi