An interesting fact - the director of this film, Pilar Miro, had to fight her way out of being put into prison after she directed this film, which was delayed two years between filming and release!
The torture scenes are horrific, but there is also the comic element of the supposedly dead victim of the crime returning to the village gleefully declaring "I'm alive!" His 'death' (he in fact ran away) was the reason for which the main characters underwent torture, confessed to a crime they didn't commit and spent 17 years in prison.
Criticism at the time of release came from the Guardia Civil (the Civil Guard) who objected to their portrayal in the film as bloodthirsty and corrupt. At a time when censorship laws had been relaxed, the director chose the most graphic way possible to illustrate truths which had been hidden from the Spanish public for so long. Objections to this only served to make the public even more keen to see the film!
This kind of graphic representation of images to Spanish viewers might also explain the modern trend for the horrific television news reporting style in Spain!
The torture scenes are horrific, but there is also the comic element of the supposedly dead victim of the crime returning to the village gleefully declaring "I'm alive!" His 'death' (he in fact ran away) was the reason for which the main characters underwent torture, confessed to a crime they didn't commit and spent 17 years in prison.
Criticism at the time of release came from the Guardia Civil (the Civil Guard) who objected to their portrayal in the film as bloodthirsty and corrupt. At a time when censorship laws had been relaxed, the director chose the most graphic way possible to illustrate truths which had been hidden from the Spanish public for so long. Objections to this only served to make the public even more keen to see the film!
This kind of graphic representation of images to Spanish viewers might also explain the modern trend for the horrific television news reporting style in Spain!