El Lute: camina o revienta
Encyclopedia
El Lute: Run for Your Life is a 1987 Spanish
film
written and directed by Vicente Aranda
, based on the memoirs of Eleuterio Sánchez, “El Lute”, a delinquent who became notorious in Spain for his jail escapes in the 1960's. It stars Imanol Arias
and Victoria Abril
. The film was a hit in Spain
and made a big star of his leading actor. It was nominated to four Goya Awards
(Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress) and is considered among the best Spanish films of the 1980s. The film narrates only the early criminal years of El Lute. The second part, El Lute II: mañana sere libre, continues his story.
El Lute moves to the slum outskirts of Madrid with his common law wife, Chelo, starting an itinerant life as a peddler of pots and pans and living in a quinqui shantytown. He gradually embarks upon as life of petty criminality, eventually participating in the theft of a jewelry store during which a bystander is killed.
The Guardia Civil catch up with him fast. He is arrested again, but even under torture, he refuses to reveal the identities of his partners in crime. Despite this, they are rounded up and all three are sentenced to death for the murder they committed while robbing the jewelry store. A last minute reprieve by General Franco saves their lives in the last minute, commuting the sentence.
Later, while being escorted by two civil guards in a train, El Lute manages to escape, eluding a nationwide manhunt for several weeks despite having a broken arm. The Civil Guards eventually track him down and return him to prison.
El Lute, thanks to his daring escapes from police custody and anti-Franco stance, becomes a most uncommon folk hero.
where Imanol Arias
and Victoria Abril
obtained the awards as best actor and best actress. In Spain
, the film was a great success with critics and audiences.
became well known in the 1980s due to his adaptations of literary works to the big screen. For El Lute, camina o revienta, Aranda based his film on the autobiography of the infamous Spanish delinquent Eleuterio Sánchez, El Lute.
Aranda split El Lute’s adventures in two features films : El Lute: camina o revienta (1987) (El Lute, run for your life), and El Lute II, mañana seré libre (1988) (El Lute Tomorrow I’ll be Free). The film is sometime grim but always gripping. Despite its length it never, flags in interest, both in respect to the human adventures being lived and in its reflection of the final years of Franco’s Spain.
El Lute forced by social deprivation into delinquency in the 1960s is elevated to folk hero by way of his resistance to authoritarian injustice. Aranda’s hybrid combination of period drama, thriller and social realism reveals how the criminal career of this petty thief was manipulated and exploited by the authorities as a diversionary tactic at the time of political unrest. Employing the codes of a thriller the film presents the adventures of a man confronted with an adverse destiny and environment whose desire for freedom brings him to discover himself. The film has a strong realistic and political tone and it is a resounding critique of Franco’s regime and its brutal treatment of an oppressed minority.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
written and directed by Vicente Aranda
Vicente Aranda
Vicente Aranda , is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Due to his refined and personal style, he is one of the most renowned Spanish filmmakers. He started as a founded member of the Barcelona School of Film and became known for bringing contemporary Spanish novels to life on the...
, based on the memoirs of Eleuterio Sánchez, “El Lute”, a delinquent who became notorious in Spain for his jail escapes in the 1960's. It stars Imanol Arias
Imanol Arias
Imanol Arias born Manuel María Arias Domínguez , is a Spanish actor and one off film director.Imanol Arias began his career with a travelling theatre group in Spain performing in the Basque Country of northern Spain. He debuted on TV in 1976 and his first film was in "Cecilia " of 'Humberto Solas'...
and Victoria Abril
Victoria Abril
Victoria Abril is a Spanish film actress. She is best known to international audiences for her performance in the movie ¡Átame! by director Pedro Almodóvar....
. The film was a hit in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and made a big star of his leading actor. It was nominated to four Goya Awards
Goya Awards
The Goya Awards, known in Spanish as los Premios Goya, are Spain's main national film awards, considered by many in Spain, and internationally, to be the Spanish equivalent of the American Academy Awards....
(Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress) and is considered among the best Spanish films of the 1980s. The film narrates only the early criminal years of El Lute. The second part, El Lute II: mañana sere libre, continues his story.
Synopsis
In Spain of the 1960s, a poor family of quinquis - a nomadic ethnic group with a tradition as old as that of the gypsises of Spain but with even more obscure origins - have a nomadic life marked by poverty. The son, Eleuterio Sánchez Rodriguez, nicknamed "El Lute", steals some chickens and is condemned to six months in jail.El Lute moves to the slum outskirts of Madrid with his common law wife, Chelo, starting an itinerant life as a peddler of pots and pans and living in a quinqui shantytown. He gradually embarks upon as life of petty criminality, eventually participating in the theft of a jewelry store during which a bystander is killed.
The Guardia Civil catch up with him fast. He is arrested again, but even under torture, he refuses to reveal the identities of his partners in crime. Despite this, they are rounded up and all three are sentenced to death for the murder they committed while robbing the jewelry store. A last minute reprieve by General Franco saves their lives in the last minute, commuting the sentence.
Later, while being escorted by two civil guards in a train, El Lute manages to escape, eluding a nationwide manhunt for several weeks despite having a broken arm. The Civil Guards eventually track him down and return him to prison.
El Lute, thanks to his daring escapes from police custody and anti-Franco stance, becomes a most uncommon folk hero.
Cast
- Imanol AriasImanol AriasImanol Arias born Manuel María Arias Domínguez , is a Spanish actor and one off film director.Imanol Arias began his career with a travelling theatre group in Spain performing in the Basque Country of northern Spain. He debuted on TV in 1976 and his first film was in "Cecilia " of 'Humberto Solas'...
... Eleuterio - Victoria AbrilVictoria AbrilVictoria Abril is a Spanish film actress. She is best known to international audiences for her performance in the movie ¡Átame! by director Pedro Almodóvar....
... Chelo - Antonio Valero ... Medrano
- Carlos Tristancho ...Augudo
- Margarita Calahorra ... Chelos’s mother
Reception
El Lute:camina o revienta opened in September 1987 at the San Sebastian International Film FestivalSan Sebastián International Film Festival
The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
where Imanol Arias
Imanol Arias
Imanol Arias born Manuel María Arias Domínguez , is a Spanish actor and one off film director.Imanol Arias began his career with a travelling theatre group in Spain performing in the Basque Country of northern Spain. He debuted on TV in 1976 and his first film was in "Cecilia " of 'Humberto Solas'...
and Victoria Abril
Victoria Abril
Victoria Abril is a Spanish film actress. She is best known to international audiences for her performance in the movie ¡Átame! by director Pedro Almodóvar....
obtained the awards as best actor and best actress. In Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, the film was a great success with critics and audiences.
Analysis
Director, Vicente ArandaVicente Aranda
Vicente Aranda , is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Due to his refined and personal style, he is one of the most renowned Spanish filmmakers. He started as a founded member of the Barcelona School of Film and became known for bringing contemporary Spanish novels to life on the...
became well known in the 1980s due to his adaptations of literary works to the big screen. For El Lute, camina o revienta, Aranda based his film on the autobiography of the infamous Spanish delinquent Eleuterio Sánchez, El Lute.
Aranda split El Lute’s adventures in two features films : El Lute: camina o revienta (1987) (El Lute, run for your life), and El Lute II, mañana seré libre (1988) (El Lute Tomorrow I’ll be Free). The film is sometime grim but always gripping. Despite its length it never, flags in interest, both in respect to the human adventures being lived and in its reflection of the final years of Franco’s Spain.
El Lute forced by social deprivation into delinquency in the 1960s is elevated to folk hero by way of his resistance to authoritarian injustice. Aranda’s hybrid combination of period drama, thriller and social realism reveals how the criminal career of this petty thief was manipulated and exploited by the authorities as a diversionary tactic at the time of political unrest. Employing the codes of a thriller the film presents the adventures of a man confronted with an adverse destiny and environment whose desire for freedom brings him to discover himself. The film has a strong realistic and political tone and it is a resounding critique of Franco’s regime and its brutal treatment of an oppressed minority.