Basilio Martín Patino: Freedom and Independence

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Queridísimos verdugos (Dear Executioners)
Basilio Martín Patino
Spain, 1973
35mm | 100min. | Colour

Photography: Acácio de Almeida, Alfredo F. Mayo, Augusto García Balbuena
Editor: Eduardo Biurrun
Screenplay: Basilio Martín Patino
Music: J. S. Bach
Actors: Antonio López Sierra, Vicente Copete, Bernardo Sánchez Bascuñana
 
Sinopsis
The three remaining executioners working in Spain in the early 1970s talk about this particularly dark period of the dictatorship. More than just an indictment of the death penalty, Queridísimos verdugos explores the executions' personal stories and how they saw their job, looks at those they executed by garrote vil and their virtues and crimes, and hears what experts think. A cruel portrait of the society of the time; a hard-hitting reflection on power.
 
Festivals
Primer Premio - Festival de Cine de Taormina, 1973
Mejor Film - Festival Internacional de Prades, 1973