The general criterion is that literature is superior to cinema and brings in more culture. I agree – and I really prefer to read the book first and then enjoy the film adaptation -; however, due to time constraints, it’s a practice I sometimes can’t do.
That happened to me recently with a film based on a work by top Spanish author Benito Pérez Galdós: Viridiana, brought to celluloid by that great Luis Buñuel – also Spanish but of Aragonese origin (Pérez Galdós was from the Canary Islands). .
The film was produced in 1961, and although he had already shot Buñuel in color, he decided to make it in black and white (remember Hitchcock’s Psycho). The title responds to the name of the female protagonist and is set in the 19th century.
The argument revolves around a nun who comes to live with her uncle (Don Jaime) who was said to be in poor health but was in fact lacking company. Presenting episodes of dementia, Don Jaime proposes to his young niece and commits suicide after her refusal.
Viridiana and a bastard son of Don Jaime (Jorge) remain as heirs, people of completely different natures: while the one is petty and rude, the other is noble and charitable, to the point of creating in the house itself a shelter for the poor ., invalids and lepers. What Viridiana did not know, however, was that the result of so much kindness would be terrible: one day when they were not in the house, she, Jorge and the employees, the tramps, were having a party, destroying everything and when she came back, tried even raping her, a fact that gives him trauma that he ends the film with.
Starring Silvia Pinal, Francisco Rabal and Fernando Rey, Viridiana received the Palme d’Or, the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival. Filmed in Spain, it could only be exhibited 17 years after the shooting, when the Franco dictatorship had disappeared.
It is important to highlight a few scenes from the film including: when one of them plays Handel’s Hallelujah on the record player during the invaders’ celebrations, a piece greatly enjoyed by the late Jaime; likewise, when towards the end the maid’s girl with a crown of thorns (symbol of Christ) can be seen, who pricks herself with a thorn and throws the crown into the fire (disrespect towards the church). Here you can also enjoy the staging of the Spanish personality in all its glory.
This is a feature film whose plot, as you can see from the plot and the writer’s reflections, gets the neurons going, but also has humorous scenes, which is why it is also entertaining; Therefore, it is important to highlight the literary mastery of Benito Pérez Galdós and it is important to acknowledge the cinematic expertise of Luis Buñuel.
Viridiana is a film whose work on which it is based, “Halma”, is a must-read, especially for the surely valuable narration of the result.
*Student of journalism.