Loading
To My Son in Spain: Finnish Canadians in the Spanish Civil War
To My Son
Genres
Documentary
Overview
This documentary features the story of Jules Paivio, the last living Canadian volunteer of the infamous Mackenzie-Papineau Battallion of the “International Brigades”. When Jules left from his home near Port Arthur (Thunder Bay), Ontario, his father, a famous Finnish poet, wrote a lasting lament: “To My Son In Spain”. In 1936-37, 1700 Canadians volunteered to fight with the Spanish people against a fascist coup d’etat led by elements of the Spanish Army. Backed by Musselini and Hitler, the fascists were bent on overthrowing Spain’s democratically elected socialist government and replacing it with military and church rule. It could be argued this conflict marked the true beginning of what would become World War II.
Details
Budget
$0
Revenue
$0
Runtime
42 min
Release Date
2009-05-30
Status
Released
Original Language
English
Vote Count
0
Vote Average
0
Cast
Meet the talented actors who bring the movie to life.
Michelle Derosier
Narrator
Jules Päiviö
Self, Spanish Civil War veteran
Michael Petrou
Self, author of 'Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War'
Similar Movies
Explore movies similar to this one that you might also enjoy.
6.0
Yo soy Arturo Fernández
A gentle portrait of the mythical Spanish actor Arturo Fernández (1929-2019) in the hour of his passing, in his own words, through his latest interviews, not previously broadcast, and the words of those who knew him thorough decades of charming and good performance on stage, his true home, as well as in cinema and television.
2019-07-07 | es
5.0
Navarra, las cuatro estaciones
1972-01-01 | es
0.0
Beato, el Origen del Xacobeo
2023-11-09 | es
0.0
The Invisible Half: Luis García Berlanga's The Executioner
Documentary about Spanish director Luis García Berlanga's "The Executioner" (1963)
2012-02-25 | es
7.2
El cuarto round
Accompany Osvaldo, "El Mariana", on an intimate six-month journey as he prepares for his fight at La Velada del Año 4, at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid. Through his training, we not only see him face physical and emotional challenges, but also discover new facets of himself, where his public and personal lives become deeply intertwined.
2024-10-17 | es
7.0
Why Did We Lose the War?
A documentary about how Republican forces lost to Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
1978-04-02 | es
6.0
Fallas 37: el arte en guerra
In November 1936, a few months since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, the government of the Second Republic moves to Valencia. In this situation, several Valencian artists and intellectuals decide to build four fallas — satirical plasterboard sculptures created to be burnt — to mock fascism.
2013-03-02 | es
8.3
El Cabrero: el canto de la sierra
Documentary portrait of José Domínguez Muñoz, better known as "El Cabrero" (French for "the goatherd"), Spanish libertarian flamenco singer born in Aznalcóllar, province of Seville, in 1944 and filmed over two weeks in 1988 in Seville, Aznalcóllar, La Carbonería de Sevilla and Marinaleda, and in concert at a recital in Bayonne. Politically committed, El Cabrero defines himself as a libertarian. Since the 1970s, he has been close to the anarchist movement. For many years, he was a member of the anarcho-syndicalist Confédération Nationale du Travail.
1988-01-01 | es
6.9
Chavela
Inspired by an exclusive interview and performance footage of Chavela Vargas shot in 1991 and guided by her unique voice, the film weaves an arresting portrait of a woman who dared to dress, speak, sing, and dream her unique life into being.
2017-06-16 | es
6.0
La doble vida del faquir
La doble vida del faquir (The magicians) returns to the scene of a school in the Catalan town of Sant Julià de Vilatorta where, in 1937, in the midst of civil war, a film-maker in hiding and a group of orphaned children dressed up as sultans and explorers shot an exotic adventure film. The films protagonists relive those childhood days when they were able to switch their school smocks for oriental turbans, while reality imposed its own fancy dress ball with military uniforms and priests dressed in civilian garb.
2005-09-19 | es
6.0
Bones of Contention
A history of the political and social repression carried out by the ruthless regime of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco between 1936 and 1975 that focuses on the lives of gays and lesbians during those dark years and the death of the Spanish gay poet Federico García Lorca.
2018-03-02 | en
7.0
Land Without Bread
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.
1933-12-01 | es
5.0
Behind Natacha Rambova's Shadow
The adventurous life of Natacha Rambova (1897-1966), an American artist, born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy, who reincarnated herself countless times: false Russian dancer, silent film actress, scenographer and costume designer, writer, spiritist, Egyptologist, indefatigable traveler, mysterious and curious; an amazing 20th century woman who created the myth of Rudolph Valentino.
2019-07-06 | ca
7.6
Caudillo
Caudillo is a documentary film by Spanish film director Basilio Martín Patino. It follows the military and political career of Francisco Franco and the most important moments of the Spanish Civil War. It uses footage from both sides of the war, music from the period and voice-over testimonies of various people.
1977-10-14 | en
6.5
Songs for After a War
A particular reading of the hard years of famine, repression and censorship after the massacre of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), through popular culture: songs, newspapers and magazines, movies and newsreels.
1976-02-09 | es
6.0
Aidez l'Espagne
The Colegio de Arquitectos de Catalunya commissioned Pere Portabella to make this film for the Joan Miró retrospective exhibit in 1969. There were heated discussions on whether it would be prudent to screen the film during the exhibit. Portabella took the following stance: "either both films are screened or they don't screen any" and, finally, both Miro l'Altre and Aidez l'Espagne were shown. The film was made by combining newsreels and film material from the Spanish Civil War with prints by Miró from the series "Barcelona" (1939-1944). The film ends with the painter's "pochoir" known as Aidez l'Espagne.
1969-01-01 | ca
8.5
Undercover: Exposing the Far Right
Investigators from the organization Hope Not Hate track down members of far-right factions who are planning demonstrations and intimidation campaigns.
2024-10-21 | en
5.3
You Alone
In their spare time, after their studies or their work, children and adolescents between the ages of eight and sixteen meet at the School of Bullfighting in Madrid to learn the Art of Cúchares: Torear. In their stomachs there is no hunger as in the past, their dreams do not lie in having a farmhouse and being famous. Their only dreams are to be in front of a bull, animal with which death goes, fact of which they are fully aware, as their teachers continually remind them. These, retired bullfighters, some by age, others by force and all with their bodies full of scars produced by the horns of a bull. The nude bullfighting scene is fascinating without being exploitive, and it serves as an analogy for the vulnerability these young bullfighters have when in the ring with the bulls.
1984-09-01 | es
6.9
Wild Session
A walk through the golden age of Spanish exploitation cinema, from the sixties to the eighties; a low-budget cinema and great popular acceptance that exploited cinematographic fashions: westerns, horror movies, erotic comedies and thrillers about petty criminals.
2019-12-13 | es
7.5
Almodóvar, todo sobre ellas
When looking at Pedro Almodóvar’s filmography, it becomes evident that women are everywhere; in fact, his work revolves around them. His divas are the best to create a real portrait of Almodóvar and evoke the emotional power of his films. These women are the ideal observers of a cinematic career that, from La Mancha to Hollywood, has changed the image of Spain in the world.
2016-09-11 | es