The War That Won't Die: the Spanish Civil War in cinema [Book Review]

Abstract

The War That Won't Die is in some ways a frustrating book, at once full of smart insights and yet in some senses naïve, deeply researched and yet full of lacunae. The aim of its author, David Archibald, is to explore 'the diverse ways in which cinema can represent one event, the elasticity of the event, and the efficacy of the representational techniques of varying film forms.' Focusing on the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, he proposes to situate his analyses of individual films within 'contemporary debates on . . . historiography . . . also the philosophy of history and the relationship between the past and its cinematic representation' (p. 18).

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