Culture

Interview with Pedro Almodóvar

Madrid, Oct 4 (EFE).- (Camera: Enrique Del Viso/ Tato Pérez) The theme of freedom underpins much of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s work, but in "Parallel Mothers", a drama about "imperfect motherhood", the filmmaker doubles down on his political engagement by contributing his two cents to a sensitive national debate -- Spain’s "moral debt" over the people who were disappeared during the Spanish Civil War.INTERVIEW WITH PEDRO ALMODOVAR.Translations:"The idea I started writing with was that of the two mothers, while the question of historical memory is a subject that has always haunted me and I had never managed to put in a film because it didn't fit. It seemed to me that if Penelope's character was looking for her great-grandfather, and she was in that group of families looking for victims in that tangential way the theme would fit, the historical memory topic is very deep, very important." "In all my films I talk about freedom, and in my opinion, it's a political topic. No matter what gender or story you tell. But this is the most political film. I think the Spanish society has an enormous moral debt with the families of the disappeared, who are in ditches, mass graves, cemeteries, and the sooner this debt is paid, the better. It is already too late because now it's the great-grandchildren who are asking for it and once this generation is passed by, it will be difficult."