''Operación Ogro'' is a

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

Spanish and Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Gillo Pontecorvo Gilberto Pontecorvo (; 19 November 1919 – 12 October 2006) was an Italian filmmaker associated with the political cinema movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for directing the landmark war docudrama '' The Battle of Algiers'' (19 ...

. The film is based on true events in Spain during the early 1970s and is based on the eponymous book by Julen Agirre (pseudonym of Eva Forest).Obituary
''The Guardian''. The film won the

David di Donatello The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's ''David (Donatello, bronze), David'', a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the ''Accademia del Cinema Italiano'' (the Academy of Italian Cin ...

(an annual Italian motion picture award) for Best Film. All the actors, a mix of Spaniards and Italians, spoke Spanish in the dubbed version released in Spain, and Italian in the dubbed Italian version.

Plot

This drama documentary film describes the attack - known as Operación Ogro - made by four Basque separatist members of

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

, on 20 December 1973 against

Luis Carrero Blanco Admiral-General Luis Carrero Blanco (; 4 March 1904 – 20 December 1973) was a Spanish Navy officer and politician. A long-time confidant and right-hand man of dictator Francisco Franco, Carrero served as Prime Minister of Spain. Upon gr ...

known also as the "Ogro" (ogre). Under the pretence of being bank officials the men involved - Ezarra, Txabi, Iker and Luken - settle in Madrid and plan to kidnap the "Ogro" from the church where he goes to mass each morning. In return for his release they plan to demand the release of 150 Basque political prisoners. However the planning has to change since Carrero Blanco becomes Spanish Prime Minister and Henry Kissinger was set to come visit him, all the security measures around him were multiplied. They then decide to blow him up with a bomb laid under the road upon which his car is going to pass. They dig a tunnel and lay the explosives and the assassination occurs.

Cast

Gian Maria Volonté Gian Maria Volonté (9 April 1933 – 6 December 1994) was an Italian actor and activist. He is best known for his roles in four Spaghetti Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964), El Indio in Leone's ''For a ...

: Izarra *

José Sacristán José María Sacristán Turiégano (born 27 September 1937), better known as José Sacristán, is a Spanish film, theatre, and television actor. He made his feature film debut in 1965 in '. At Gijón International Film Festival in 2015, he r ...

: Iker *

Ángela Molina Ángela Molina Tejedor (born 5 October 1955) is a Spanish actress. Aside from her performances in Spanish films, she has starred in multiple international productions, particularly in a number of Italian films and television series. Family Mol ...

: Amaiur *

Eusebio Poncela Eusebio Poncela Aprea (born 15 September 1947) is a Spanish actor. Biography Eusebio Poncela Aprea was born in Madrid on 15 September 1947. After graduating in drama, he made his debut onstage in the play ''Mariana Pineda (play), Mariana Pin ...

: Txabi *

Saverio Marconi Saverio Marconi (born 1 April 1948) is an Italian stage director and actor. Life and career Born in Rome, after his debut as a stage actor, Marconi had his breakout role in 1977 playing Gavino Ledda in the Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's drama f ...

: Luque * Georges Staquet: The builder *

Nicole Garcia Nicole Garcia (born 22 April 1946) is a French actress, film director and screenwriter. Her film '' Charlie Says'' was entered into the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Her film '' Going Away'' was screened in the Special Presentation section at the ...

: Karmele * Féodor Atkine: José María Uriarte (alias Yoseba) * Estanis González * Agapito Romo:

* José Manuel Cervino: The milkman * Ana Torrent: Basque girl

History

'' Operación Ogro'' ("Operation Ogre") was the name given by

to the assassination of

, the then Prime Minister of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in 1973 and the successor of Spanish ''

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; , from Latin language, Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of Personalist dictatorship, personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise English translation for the term, though it ...

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 ...

. This attack was carried out on 20 December 1973. An ETA commando group using the code name Txikia (after the nom de guerre of ETA activist Eustakio Mendizabal killed by the

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard (; ) is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain. As a national gendarmerie, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Minis ...

in April 1973) rented a basement flat at Calle Claudio Coello 104,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

on the route over which Carrero Blanco used to go to Mass at San Francisco de Borja church. Over five months, this group dug a tunnel under the street - telling the landlord that they were student sculptors to disguise their real purpose. The tunnel was packed with 80 kg of explosives that had been stolen from a Government depot. On 20 December 1973, a 3-man ETA commando group disguised as electricians detonated the explosives by command wire as Carrero Blanco's

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

Dart passed. The explosion sent Carrero Blanco and his car 20 metres into the air and over a five-storey building. The car crashed down to the ground on the opposite side of a Jesuit college, landing on the second-floor balcony. Carrero Blanco survived the blast but died shortly afterwards. His bodyguard and driver were killed instantly. The "electricians" shouted to stunned passers-by that there had been a gas explosion, and subsequently escaped in the confusion.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1979 films Italian political drama films Spanish political drama films 1970s Spanish-language films 1979 drama films Italian films based on actual events Basque conflict films Spanish political thriller films Biscay in fiction Films set in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Films set in Madrid Films directed by Gillo Pontecorvo Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films about ETA (separatist group) Films about assassinations 1970s Italian films 1970s Spanish films Films with screenplays by Ugo Pirro