Part I
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'CID' SETS BOX-OFFICE RECORD
1.19.2005
Alima el-Mu'tamid, reporter-correspondent for La Nacional
"Yesterday Alphonse Valeriez's latest film "Cid" opened to shatter all box-office records in national history, earning over $38 million SpD. The film, six years in the making, is already being called a masterpiece by domestic and international critics alike. "It's amazing" says noted British film director and producer Brandon Walwin, "the tone, the contour- the capture and the vision; it all comes together. There is no one like Valeriez". Celebrated in his homeland and named one of the best directors and producers of the century, Valeriez's resume includes such films as "La Silence", "Je veut mais peux-je", "Fame and Fortune" and "Alo mama!" In recent years he has become rather reclusive, but after months of speculation it was finally confirmed that he was working on a new film and it would infact after be a historial drama based on 'Abd al-Walid's 12th century epic The Spanish History.
Starring gruff Raul Cuban as the titular "El Cid" Emperor Diaz I, of "Pan y vino" fame and whose performance has already earned calls for a Teodoro nomination; Judah De Castro as Caliph al-Asad, John Raines as Alfonso VI and Aisha Fahir as Galiana- the film has appeased the industry after an unusually slow winter, largely bereft of what Walwin says "any films of substance or at the very least; dignity. "What Valeriez captures is not easy; these are events that happened 900 years ago. They've been recorded by a man of admitted bias; this is fiction. Based on reality yes- but fiction. And yet it captures what it is to be human- what it means to be Spanish, so very well".
El Cid is considered a national hero and the founder of modern Spain, has always been the subject of much intrigue and lore. The book on which the film is based and the medium through which most modern Cidean lore can trace back to, was written by the Cordoban Mozarabic scholar 'Abd al-Walid in the early 12th century. He called it Ab Hispanae Condita- though it is more commonly known in vulgar vernaculars as "The Spanish History". Although now considered controversial- with its historical accuracy particularly in question, the text is still considered an invaluable window into some of the most important events in Spanish history and is a pioneering piece in pre-modern Spanish literature.
Born to a noble family but orphaned at a young age, Cid was raised on the battlefield and spent much of his early life as a page to famed knight John of Aragon. He became famous for his prolific skill with a broadsword and bow on horseback, notably participating in the routing the Taifa of Zaragoza at the Battle of Las Pedrosas. Earning a rare knighthood from the-then King of Castille, Sancho II, he fought for Castille for five years before being forced to fleeing southward after Sancho's assassination, for which he was accused for (though in reality it was his brother Alphonso VI was truly responsible). He acidentally rescued and returned the captured son of the head of Cordoba and future Caliph, 'Abd al-Asad, who had an immense and profound influence on him and his religious views. He lived in the Republic for several years before being captured and nearly killed when the brother of al-Asad organized a coup against their father; killing him and enslaving many- including Cid.
Shipped southward to Africa, here details about his life remain at best... elusive. The History claims he would eventually earn his freedom after saving the tribe who had purchased him, and was given even given a wife- through which he fathered the eventual South Cidean Dynasty of the Crown of Andalucia. Eventually negotiating an alliance between various tribes unhappy with Almoravid rule, he organized massive rebellions that eventually overthrew the regime. Famously relinquishing power to local tribes, asking only for ships to transport his army north to Iberia, he travelled across the Straits of Hercules began recruiting many men of South Spain diverse in language, nationality, culture and religion. He came to conquer the remaining taifas relic of the old Caliphate of Cordoba; which he ironically restored after coaxing his long-time friend al-Asad to take its mantle shortly after restoring the Republic of Cordoba.
He eventually marched northward after the infamous Sacking of Toledo by Alphonso VI in 1081, and spent the next four years meticuously conquering the old Christian kingdoms. Eventually after the Battle of Burgos he deposed Alphonso himself, beheading him in the town square and ending the so-called Reconquista on November 9th, 1085 AD. Styling himself "Dictator" of "Imperium Hispaniae", he faced near immediate resistance to his rule and spent the remainder of his life conquering, reconquering and reorganizing the various territories across the peninsula. He died peacefully in 1092 AD
Called the "Peasant King" by contemporaries in Europe at the time, his legacy as an ardent defender of using the Iberian Rite and toleration of religion- he set the stage for his son's infamous excommunication and the eventual creation of the Hispanic Church. His legacy throughout the years has been unyielding. The famous Pillars of Hercules, built in 1114 on the orders of his son Emperor Diaz II, are said to bear his likeliness. He was controversially made a Saint during his son's rule and a massive bronze statue originally commissioned by King Teodoro III of him atop his infamous steed Barbieca, stands facing the Cortes Nacional in Toledo. The name "Cid" has long been a common forename for Spanish children, especially those from Toledo, Castille and the Old Colonies.
"Cid" is considered to breathe fresh life into the Reconquista genre. In an exclusive interview with La Nacional, Valeriez says in preparing for the film he "read the whole damn thing; every word, front to back, in Old Spanish. Then again in regular Spanish, so I could understand it all." Though Valeriez recognizes the controversy behind some of the events in the History, and the scenes in the movie portraying Cid's Crossing of the Straits has caused fresh waves of frustration among historians and scholars, he defends its value in entertainment. "I think I did as good a job as any could. That text is no book, its a tome; we had to trim it down, we had to make it palatable to the public Was every scene real?" he says, slamming down his coffee cup "did it all happen? Only God knows. But let me say this- the point isn't to replicate history, it's to interpret and present it through the medium of film. I can't capture every real moment, but I can capture the feeling and the essence of what it was".
Historians and scholars have been spotlighted however as they seek to reconcile many of the fantastic endevors of the film with the realities of history. "Well, it certainly wasn't a documentary" says the head of the Department of History at the Uniersity of Cordoba, Dr. Hadrien Suarez "but much of what the film says is, well at least in terms of cinema, is at least based on accurate events". The professor scoffed when I asked him whether the Crossing of the Pillars was as it was portrayed in the film. "No, not likely" he said rolling his eyes, "of course films have leave to take quite a bit of dramatic license when we come to these things. If El Cid regularly led his army's cavalry charge he would've never made it to Cartagena- if he was always fighting in the melee he'd've been killed". A new series produced by the History Network, set to air sometime in the coming months, is said to hope to capitalize on the film's success and educate viewers on "what makes truth and what made fiction" in the Spanish History. Suarez is a lead consultant on the production.
Nonetheless, historians recognize the normative importance of the film both as an exercise in patriotism and as a work of art. "Cinema is cinema; if it was history, it'd be a book- with colored illustrations at best" Suarez says; "Cid has always been apart of us as Spaniards- we all of us grew up on his stories, the legends... In recent years though I know, kids are hearing them less and less. I think this is a chance for them to get interested again, to look again and to learn about our history and where they come from."
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I look forward to future installments, keep it up!