“Today everything changes me, brother. Whether it’s good or bad, everything changes me. I believe that less bad, the worst is over and it’s less bad every time. It goes through phases. Now, little by little, I will pay for my mistakes”. These are Andresito’s words as he drives to court. He says that he regrets what he did and apologizes for it, but assures that “I don’t remember anything that happened.” During the sentence, both the protagonist and his companions plead guilty and attend, astonished, the discussions between the prosecutor, lawyers and the judge over the agreement, which obliges them to pay 52,000 euros for a crime of injury. If they do not pay an amount per month they will go straight to jail.
The events that take place in the documentary La mala familia, directed by the audiovisual creators Nacho A. Villar and Luis Rojo, will be witnessed by a spectator who observes from a distance the machinery of Spanish justice regarding how common crimes are solved and how those Young people, most of them immigrants, must face an uncertain future with the shadow of fear hanging over them.
The film, which arrived in theaters this Friday, has previously successfully passed through the Seville, Rotterdam and BAFICI festivals in Buenos Aires: “It is very overwhelming to see how people connect with the film,” they comment in a telephone conversation with La Avant-garde the filmmakers, colleagues from many years ago and authors of the music video clip Alizzz
The origin of the film is situated when both directors were working distributing publicity “and one morning Andresito arrived with the summons letter from the court for events from six years ago when he no longer expected that letter and was focused on his life.” The news fell “like a jug of cold water and the first days it was a bit to look for solutions, to be able to help face the process not only from the judicial defense but also on an emotional level. How to ensure that these kids do not break in the face of a process that was expected screwed up”.
At some point they realized that “it was necessary to capture everything that was happening, with the fear that Andresito or any of the other friends could be put in jail at any moment” and share the experience with a wider audience and also with people who could see themselves represented and could have a voice. In this way, “the script evolved as reality was imposed with the intention of following what was happening and not the other way around. Not trying to make the film an imposition of what was being experienced,” says Rojo .
Months after learning of the sentence, Andresito’s group of colleagues plans to meet again to celebrate with a barbecue in the Madrid swamp of San Juan the permit and the third degree of that young man who has ended up behind bars. “During filming we adjusted to what was happening day after day and how the kids were feeling and the scenes became their own,” he continues.
“We wanted that in this meeting, apart from enjoying and enjoying themselves, a little outside the logic that one of them has emigrated to London, the other is in prison and the others are working and have little time to see each other, it was a moment of communion Villar added.
Although there was a script in which Raúl Liarte also participated, before recording they always told them what they had in their heads. They did not repeat takes and once the word ‘action’ was announced “the boys took ownership of what they said”. Prior to this reunion, we see how all those involved share video calls and express the joy of being able to spend a day together. Between the heat, the copious food, some joints and swamp dips, there is a display of male camaraderie, a sincere and unconditional friendship that goes beyond the camera. “We wanted to reflect a vision of masculinity from within. It is a group of men who, in the end, take care of themselves as best they can and know how.”
The important thing to shoot these sequences was the previous complicity that was created, since they were living together for 14 days and they were able to prepare everything calmly. “Suddenly, things that had never been said began to come out, thanks to that safe and trustworthy space. The camera became another friend.” In the group conversations that we attend, many talk about the desire to turn the page, something that sounds almost like a chimera when the ghost of the past hovers around them.
“The shadow of the prison becomes denser when there is a class issue. If the kids had the chance to pay, there would not be this problem. The bad thing is that due to your economic and social condition you are forced to go to jail for not being able to pay and it is something that seems terrible to me. Once Andresito pleads guilty, from there the other trial begins, the one made by the viewer who sees the film and understands the reality that the kids live”.
And it is that with this story the directors ask themselves: “On the one hand, to what extent is justice justice if it does not act in its time?” walk in fear on the street- and on the other, what value does prison have for a person who is not really a danger to society and how suddenly your economic situation makes you have a problem or not? If they came from another social context they would have paid and nothing… a mistake that you have made in your life and you will not do it again. Here, however, they are not given the possibility of redemption”, they lament.
Despite the fact that the film does not go into specifying the crime committed by the group, Villar points out that it was “an absurd situation of violence in the busiest nightclub in the center of Madrid. An unpleasant event for everyone but something not so out of place. Every night if you go out through the center of Madrid, altercations of this type occur. The emotion explodes in one of the most moving moments of the film, when Andresito reads one of the letters that he wrote to his friends from prison. “We all cried like cupcakes,” recall the directors, members of the BRBR Collective.
“And it is that the kids speak and write very well. That letter is written with a strength and a nerve… that would cost me. Although you are allowing people to see your vulnerability a bit, it is something that makes you strong. And it is something that is more difficult for men. The kids were generous, they expressed themselves so well and showed an emotional intelligence that we are amazed at because they have not been listened to much throughout their lives. The fact that people have curiosity and ask them later is something very positive”.
Villar and Rojo admit that they do not usually work with references, but they cite The Legend of Time, by Isaki Lacuesta, as one of the films that pushed them to make movies. “The idea was to impregnate ourselves with a certain neighborhood cinema, a certain vision of the social, both in the way of working and representing it. We were not interested in the subject falling into clichés or making it easy for the viewer,” they maintain. And they confess that the actors in the film, whose title alludes to what they called themselves as children, have cried a lot after seeing it. “What there is in the end is a relief to be able to see that it has served for something. They have received a lot of love, they have felt heard and understood and it suits them very well.”
Has fear disappeared for Andresito? “Fear is something with which he has learned to live. But he is fine, he is out of judicial pressure. The only person who is in prison is Yamel. Shortly after filming, they did a check on him and since he had a search warrant … let’s hope it comes out as soon as possible so we can enjoy the film with him”, explain the directors, who clarify that the pending payment of the trial has been resolved. “They put together the money that was missing without looking at who had to put how much. They solved it as a group,” they applaud.
