The War That Won't Die: The Spanish Civil War in Cinema

Lucidly written and informed by a nuanced familiarity with the history of the Spanish Civil War, David Archibald's book is must reading for anyone interested in the relationship between cinema and this seminal historical event. Whether dealing with the Popular Front romanticism of Sam Wood's adaptation of "For Whom the Bell Tolls," the surrealist-inflected anti-authoritarianism of Arrabal's "Viva la Muerte," or the anti-Stalinist fervor of Loach's "Land and Freedom," Archibald ably disentangles a number of the thorniest political and aesthetic controversies spawned by a conflict that remains more pertinent than ever. -- Richard Porton