Women At War: Valeria Sarmiento's Lines Of Wellington
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square
Lines Of Wellington (2012) 150 mins
Following last year’s Raul Ruiz screenings at BIMI, this is a rare chance to see the posthumous collaboration between Valeria Sarmiento and Ruiz, who died during preparation of the film. Encouraged by the producers and stellar cast, led by John Malkovich, Sarmiento directed an extraordinary ‘intimate epic’ about the Peninsular war against Napoleon’s forces in 1810, which laid the basis of Wellington’s huge reputation before Waterloo.
Here the focus is less on strategy and battle scenes, offering instead a picaresque tapestry of war’s impact on families and especially women of all ages, as troops and civilians alike struggle to survive in the wasteland that Wellington created in order to lure Napoleon’s forces towards his defensive ‘Lines of Torres Vedras’ protecting Lisbon. Among the few war films that have been directed by women, Sarmiento’s stands out for its portrayal of the human cost of war, recalling Brecht’s antiheroic stance in Mother Courage.
Contact name:
Matthew Barrington