Synopsis

David Carr has died at an old age and his granddaughter discovers old letters, newspapers and other documents in his room.

Persuaded of the necessity of helping the Spanish Republicans in their fight against the fascist Nationalist rebellion, Carr, a young unemployed worker and member of the Communist Party, leaves Liverpool and travels to Spain to join the International Brigades.



He crosses the Catalan border and ends up enlisted in a POUM militia on the Aragon front. In this company, as in all POUM militias, men and women — such as the young and enthusiastic Maite — fight together.

In the following weeks and months he becomes friends with other foreign volunteers, like the French Bernard, and he falls in love with Blanca, a member of POUM, who is also the ideologue of his group.

After being wounded and recovering in a hospital in Barcelona, he finally joins — in accordance with his original plan and against the opinion of Blanca — the government-backed International Brigades, and he witnesses first-hand the Stalinist propaganda and repression against POUM members and anarchists; he then returns to his old company, only to see them rounded up by a government unit requiring their surrender: in a brief clash Blanca is killed. After her funeral he returns to Great Britain with a red neckerchief full of Spanish earth.

Cast: Ian Hart, Rosana Pastor, Icíar Bollaín, Tom Gilroy, Marc Martínez, Frédéric Pierrot

Cannes (In Competition): FIPRESCI Prize, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Stockholm (Open Zone), Locarno (Piazza Grande), New York, Toronto, AFI FEST (British Film Showcase)