Seven days in January
classified 15 Spart of States of Danger and Deceit: European Political Thrillers in the 1970s
Please note: This was screened in Nov 2017
This touchstone political drama is a reconstruction of the tragic events of January 1977 in Madrid known as the Massacre of Atocha – an attack by right-wing extremists during the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of Franco in 1975.
When right-wing extremists stormed the offices of a group of employment lawyers with links to the Spanish Communist Party, five were left dead and another four gravely injured. The attack, carried out in the name of La Triple A (Anti-Communist Apostolic Alliance), was the most serious incident during a period of extreme socio-political agitation in Spain. Intended to destabilise the fledgling democracy and provoke a coup, did the actions of the extremists destabilise the state and bring about the political change they desired?
Based on a notorious series of real events and directed by Juan Antonio Bardem, long an oppositional filmmaker in Spain, this fascinating historical document is a key cultural work of the country’s transition to democracy.