Interview: Alberto Rodríguez on his film, “Unit 7”
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The Spanish director discusses how his country’s history provides the backdrop for the fast-paced police drama “Unit 7,” which will be screened again tonight in Silver Spring.
Director Alberto Rodríguez was in town earlier this week for the local premiere of his film, “Unit 7,” a police drama that unfolds in the lead up to the World Exhibition held in Sevilla in 1992. It’s based loosely on the real police squad credited with cleaning up the drug dealing that had taken over the city’s downtown. While there’s all the action one would expect from a police flick, Rodríguez says the story, which also exposes the force’s hyper-violence and corruption, also works on a metaphorical level as a critical reexamination of Spain’s recent—and not so recent—history.
The year 1992 also marked the 500th anniversary of the “discovery” of the Americas, and Spanish were in a celebratory mood having finally shaken off the legacy of the Franco dictatorship. The country had recently joined the European Union, settling in for two decades of economic growth. But the good times were eventually derailed by world economic crisis that upended its economy and deflated once soaring real estate prices, leaving a quarter of the country’s workers without jobs today.
The film won a couple of best actor prizes in the 2013 Goya Award and was well received by critics, who noted the contrast between the country’s public mood in 1992 and today’s deep economic and political crisis.
We interviewed Rodríguez about Unit 7‘s backstory–and why a good film noir is so satisfying for viewers.
“Unit 7” will be screened again tonight at AFI in Silver Spring as part of this weekend’s festival of Spanish films. Check the AFI website for ticket prices and showtimes for several others today and tomorrow, including “Peru Sabe,” a documentary about cuisine as “an agent of social change,” and the dramas “15 years and a Day” and “People in Places.”
Here’s what you need to know before you go:
Festival of New Spanish Cinema at AFI Silver – Through Sunday, April 6
AFI Silver Theatre
8633 Colesville Road
Silver Spring, MD 20910
More information on the festival at Spain Culture site
Ticket information at AFI Silver website
301-495-6700
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