ABSTRACT

Iglesia, Eloy de la (b. 1944), Spanish filmmaker. Risk-taking is one of de la Iglesia’s trademarks. Ever since his earliest feature films, he has consistently tackled sensitive issues; homosexuality and politics, ideological inconsistences in left-wing parties, juvenile delinquency, drugs, Basque nationalism and violence, law and order, prostitution, corruption and rape constitute an explosive cocktail which, at first sight, points toward scandal-mongering and sensationalism. But this is definitely the wrong approach to the work of this politically commited, socially aware filmmaker who has preserved a distinctive style and a hard-edged approach to his work in the face of criticism and even mockery from the establishment. His best work is characterised formally by immediacy and socially by a sense of urgency. Far from excessive intellectualising or empty aestheticism, his films attempt to be eminently popular but never populist. His style is raw, unadorned, rough-edged, and this has not helped his critical fortune in Spain at a time when aping the polished look of ‘classic’ (that is, American) products seemed to be the only accepted practice. Of course his polemical approach has also been the source of some discomfort among critics, who find it hard to accept so much dissidence. Explicit representation of homosexuality and homoeroticism in his films has always been a favourite target for de la Iglesia’s critics: somehow

sexual transgression is still easier to use against an artist when attacks on merely ideological grounds become too sensitive.