''And in the Third Year, He Rose Again'' () is a 1980 Spanish

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Rafael Gil Rafael Gil (22 May 1913 – 10 July 1986) was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. His film ''La guerra de Dios'' (1953) won the Bronze Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1953 and also won best film and best director at the San Sebastián ...

.de España, Rafael. ''Directory of Spanish and Portuguese Film-Makers and Films''.

Greenwood Press Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG) was an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which was part of ABC-Clio. Since 2021, ABC-Clio and its suite of imprints, including GPG, are collectively imprints of B ...

, 1994. p. 120. . It is based on a best-selling novel by Fernando Vizcaíno Casas.

Plot

On the morning of 20 November 1978 (

20-N 20-N is a symbolic abbreviation used to denote the date of death of two far-right figures in 20th-century Spanish history. The first date, 20 November 1936, near the end of the first year of the Spanish Civil War, marks the execution in Alicant ...

), an elderly man in a coat resembling

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

in his last years hitchhikes from the

Valley of the Fallen The Valley of Cuelgamuros (Spanish: ''Valle de Cuelgamuros''), until 2022 Valley of the Fallen (Spanish: ''Valle de los Caídos''), is a monument in the Sierra de Guadarrama, near Madrid. The valley contains a Catholic basilica and a monumen ...

to Madrid. Around the same time, a radio report on the

French franc The franc (; , ; currency sign, sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amoun ...

() is misunderstood as saying that dictator Francisco Franco has risen from the dead. The rest of the film are scenes showing how Spanish people react to the rumor amidst the

Spanish transition to democracy The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...

: * Communist leader

Santiago Carrillo Santiago José Carrillo Solares (18 January 1915 – 18 September 2012) was a Spanish politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain (main), Communist Party of Spain (PCE) from 1960 to 1982. He was exiled during ...

dons a wig again and plans for an exile overseas. * The Organization of Iberian States meets to end up amending the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

rules to allow football penalties to be decided democratically by the crowd. * A festival attended by openly gay men is fled by them. * Farmers are protesting for the situation of tomato production. They plan to take their protest to the

Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

in Madrid, but nobody will hear them and their cars are seized by the police. * A union committee try to find a free date for a strike against the infidelity of the wife of one of the unionists with a rightist. * During the shooting of a pornographic film involving bestiality, the producers renounce their careers. * An industrialist is driven to a business meeting. Terrorist bombs and holdups happen along the way. On arrival, the company is full of strikers. At the meeting, an absurdist exchange of worthless shares is shown. * A theater diva rehearses a pro-Communist play. Upon hearing the rumor, she and the director remind their past productions of

José María Pemán José María Pemán y Pemartín (8 May 1897 in Cadiz – 19 July 1981, Ibid.) was a Spanish journalist, poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, and monarchist intellectual. Biography Originally a student of law, he entered the literary world wi ...

's plays. * Socialist leader

Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a retired Spanish politician who was Prime Minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996 and leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party from 1974 to 1997. He is the longest-serving democratically- ...

asks for a plane so he can flee to France. * Two prostitutes rejoice after their work is unionized. * Prime Minister

Adolfo Suárez Adolfo Suárez González, 1st Duke of Suárez (; 25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected Prime Minister of Spain, prime minister since the Second Spanish Republi ...

dismisses the rumor and laments that Franco's expertise would be useful now. He takes out his old

Movimiento Nacional The Movimiento Nacional () was a governing institution of Spain established by General Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. During Francoist Spain#Francoism, Francoist rule in Spain, it purported to be the only channel of parti ...

uniform. * In the village of Rebollar de la Mata, the modernist priest and the mayor play cards. An army unit returning from an exercise has to divert into the village. The priest recovers his pre-

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

vests and all the villagers welcome the surprised military convoy with old flags. * A rally at

Plaza de Oriente The Plaza de Oriente is a square in the historic center of Madrid, Spain. Rectangular in shape and monumental in character, it was designed in 1844 by Narciso Pascual y Colomer. The square was propagated by King Joseph I, who ordered the demol ...

in homage to Franco becomes a massive event. Several of the earlier characters cheer enthusiastically in Francoist paraphernalia. All timidly wait for an appearance of Franco from the balcony of Palacio de Oriente. Next day, the elderly man is alone in the empty square. At nearby Plaza de España, another elderly man recognizes that the future belongs to the younger and laments that the work of the old generation is not acknowledged anymore. The elderly Franco hitchhikes back to the Valley of the Fallen.

Cast

Notes

References

External links

* {{Rafael Gil 1980 comedy films Spanish comedy films Films directed by Rafael Gil Films scored by Gregorio García Segura 1980s Spanish-language films 1980s Spanish films Spanish transition to democracy Spanish satirical films Films about Francisco Franco Films set in Madrid Films set in 1978 Resurrection in film

Plot

Cast

See also

Notes

References

External links