From Vindication to Anger: Spaces of Crisis in Contemporary Spanish Cinema

Abstract

This essay discusses a series of films whose characters become criminals due to the
peculiar circumstances created by the economic crisis in Spain. These titles somehow echo a previous era of Spanish history and cinematography: the Spanish Transition and the quinqui films. This study will thus analyze the cinematic spaces depicted in these films, which must be understood as metaphors for the recession in which the country is mired. These works seem to suggest the need of a new social pact through the outbreak of violent responses by those who have experienced a significant degradation in their life conditions and have lost confidence in public institutions.