And in the Third Year, He Rose Again

And in the Third Year, He Rose Again
Theatrical film poster
Spanish	Y al tercer año, resucitó
Directed by	Rafael Gil
Written by	Fernando Vizcaíno Casas (novel)
Cinematography	José F. Aguayo
Edited by	José Luis Matesanz
Music by	Gregorio García Segura
Production company	Cinco Films
Release date	1 March 1980 (1980-03-01)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Spain
Language	Spanish

And in the Third Year, He Rose Again (Spanish: ...y al tercer año, resucitó)^{[note 1]} is a 1980 Spanish comedy film directed by Rafael Gil.^[1] It is based on a best-selling novel by Fernando Vizcaíno Casas.

Plot

On the morning of 20 November 1978 (20-N), an elderly man in a coat resembling Francisco Franco in his last years hitchhikes from the Valley of the Fallen to Madrid. Around the same time, a radio report on the French franc (Spanish: franco) 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:

• Communist leader Santiago Carrillo dons a wig again and plans for an exile overseas.
• The Organization of Iberian States^{[note 2]} meets to end up amending the FIFA 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 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's plays.
• Socialist leader Felipe González asks for a plane so he can flee to France.
• Two prostitutes rejoice after their work is unionized.
• Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez dismisses the rumor and laments that Franco's expertise would be useful now. He takes out his old Movimiento Nacional 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 vests and all the villagers welcome the surprised military convoy with old flags.
• A rally at Plaza de Oriente 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

See also

• Look Who's Back (film), a 2015 German film based in a book about the resurrection of Adolf Hitler.

Notes

References

External links

• And in the Third Year, He Rose Again at IMDb