Missing links of popular imaginary. Approaches to Ladislao Vajda’s films

Abstract

In 1950s Spanish cinema the work of Ladislao Vajda shows a real stylization proposal by confronting its filmic specificity with its political context. The radical nature of Vadja’s movies –from which we have selected examples as paradigmatic as Carne de horca and Mi tío Jacinto– exceeds their mere adscription to labels such as adventure films or movies with a child. The analysis of Vadja’s rigorous mise en scène exposes segments usually opaque in mainstream cinema. Topics such as Andalusian banditry or national bullfighting as well as references to popular culture, i.e. the ballads sung by wandering blind men or the Spanish realism of picaresque novel, permit Vadja to sketch the portrait of Spanish society under Francoism, where lawlessness, deceit and corruption are systemic rather than individual deviations.