review movies: Pick of the Indies | The tale of the people who crossed the Pyrenees to fight in the Spanish Civil War is the basis of Memories of the Future, an excellent documentary

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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with DAN CARRIER
Published: 29 May 2008

Camden cinema | Pick of the Indies | England | International Brigade | Spanish Civil War | Franco | Memories of the Future | Phoenix Cinema

“WHEN we left England to volunteer for the Brigades, it was illegal.
The penalty would be a fine of £100 – equal to a manual worker’s wages for 40 weeks – or two years’ imprisonment, or both,” wrote International Brigader Frank Deegan.
And with the French taking an equally dim view, those desperate to help defend Spain’s democratic government in 1936 had two bodies of law and order to avoid before they could do their bit.
The tale of the people who crossed the Pyrenees to fight in the Spanish Civil War is the basis of Memories of the Future, an excellent documentary film that draws heavily on the memoirs of those who went.
These personal views, a record of the heroes who headed south, makes for a poignant film.
Memories of the Future, to be screened at the Phoenix cinema in East Finchley on Sunday June 14, has two prongs to it.
It tells the story of those who went to Spain in 1936, and a return trip 70 years later, when members of the International Brigade Memorial Trust and veterans of the British Battalion spend a day following one of the routes Brigaders took to fight Franco’s Fascists.
Among the veterans on the walk were Tufnell Park-based Brigader Bob Doyle and union leader Jack Jones.
The film outlines the sacrifices of the past, and the lessons for the future.
Film-maker Margaret Dickinson, who lives in Gospel Oak, has created an informative and watchable potted history of a violent and destructive war. It also underlines the massive sacrifices the Brigaders made in the cause of liberty.
The film’s soundtrack includes the group singing a number of revolutionary songs, of the British Battalion’s lament for their comrades who fell at the battle of Jarama.
Their haunting vocals occasionally lend a suitably melancholy tone to the proceedings, and then lift spirits with a punch-the-air version of the Internationale.
• Memories of the Future is being screened at the Phoenix cinema on June 14. Call 020 8444 6789 for tickets.
• A DVD of the film is available from memoriesofthefuture@ googlemail.com

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