Modes of representation of the church in the republican CIFESA: la hermana San Sulpicio y el cura de aldea

Abstract

This article presents a vision of the modes of representation of the ecclesiastical structure during the first stage in the production of CIFESA (Compañía Industrial del Film Español. S.A.). The early years of the Spanish producer coincided with the end of the republican period, where it created some of the most important works of Spanish cinema as La Verbena de La Paloma (Benito Perojo, 1935) or Morena Clara.(Florián Rey, 1936). Modernity in content of some of the films of this period Spanish film, serve to show the ability to display, based on literary works, the evolution of the Church, which then, with the arrival of the Franco regime, would vary toward more conservative positions. The films that best reflect this renewal of the shaping of the clergy are La Hermana San Sulpicio (Florián Rey, 1934) and El cura de aldea (Francisco Camacho, 1936). The analysis of the most important characters in these movies (priests and nuns) will be carried out through the opponent and helper functions. These actants show the actions of the characters from the rest of the cast and the fundamental position that they had in the film. The role of the characters belonging to the Church will wane in the later stages of production CIFESA.