Invention and Propagation of the Fury and Failure Narrative (1920–1975)

Abstract

On 10 July 1975, the Francoist minister José Solís gave a notorious speech at the Spanish Football Federation. A chubby, smiley man, Solís defended an increase in the number of hours devoted to sports in the Spanish education system, even if this meant ‘teaching less Latin’ at school.² According to the minister, Spain had to popularise grassroots football, build playing fields all over the country and encourage youngsters to practise sports, because these were also patriotic ways ‘to fly the flag’.³ The day after Solís’s speech, the film Furia española premiered after months of controversy. In a ‘tradition of very bitter, acerbic, Spanish humour’, the movie told the story of an Andalusian immigrant in Catalonia with a passion for FC Barcelona and prostitutes.⁴ In the words of Francesc Betriu, the film’s director, the plot was ‘typical of here’, for it narrated the life of immigrants and ‘the role of Barça as the highest exponent of integration in Catalonia’.⁵ The Franco dictatorship could not see the funny side of Furia española and the movie was banned and confiscated. When the Cannes Film Festival asked for the film to be shown at the French cinematic event, the situation reached Kafkaesque heights. Trying to conceal the fact that Furia española had been physically seized by the dictatorship, the Francoist Ministry of Information and Tourism denied the very existence of the movie.