(Dani de la Torre, 2018)

There has in the past few years been a surge in TV and film depictions of Europe in the 1920s, a period of European History which has until lately been relatively neglected on screen. Gun City deals with the political tensions between the conservatives and liberals and those on the left in Barcelona at this time through an enigmatic policeman from Madrid who is tasked with investigating a robbery of a train carrying arms that is thought to have been carried out by anarchist revolutionaries.

Gun City is shot with panache, handsomely recreating Barcelona of the 1920s. The film does an excellent job of capturing the tumult of the period when shootings and street battles were rife. Anarchists and socialists were campaigning for better working conditions. Spain’s colonial war of 1921 in Morocco against Berbers in the Rif region which saw a catastrophic massacre of Spanish soldiers at Annual in July 1921 is contextually significant and is discussed in the film, as is the Tragic Week of 1909, which saw trade unionists revolt against the conscription of reserves for the Morocco conflict of 1909.

A diverse array of characters appears: a slimy crime boss who owns a nightclub (El Barόn, played by Manolo Solo), a hot-headed and violent anarchist (Leόn, played by Jaime Lorente, a wise casting choice), a corrupt police inspector (Rediú, played by Vincente Romero), a kind-hearted trade unionist leader (Salvador Ortiz, played by Paco Tous) and his politically naïve daughter (Sara, played by Michelle Jenner) with the leading character (Anίbal Uriarte, excellently played by Luis Tosar- he oozes a mysterious quality) being shrouded in secrecy even in the final moments of the film.  

There is much to like here and I admire the fact that much-deserved attention is given to this important period of the recent past. One cannot help but note the parallels between the economic and political situation of the period depicted and that of today. The themes contained in this piece, such as the question of the efficacy of violence and strikes as tools of political protest, are still as relevant today as they were in Spain roughly a hundred years ago.  

© Daniel Cummings 2023