The Banality of Survival
The film begins with one of the most unpromising and banal of all shots: a the wall of a stairwell marked by less than spectacular graffiti. This cuts to the interior of a British flat which leads the camera inside the back of an ambulance and the standard treatment of medical professionals. Nothing in this opening offers a clue to the heroic youth and backstory of the protagonist, suggesting the banal existence of those who survive death amongst circumstances which can produce legends who die young.
What’s in the Suitcase
A suitcase of utterly pedestrian appearance sitting unremarkably atop a closet shelf turns out to be a treasure trove equal to a gripping memoir. The ambulance is carrying the heart-stricken grandfather of a young woman learns through the papers, photos, periodicals and others items all about the heroism of the revolt against fascism during the Spanish Civil War. What's in the suitcase is imagery with a two-fold aspect: it facilitates the telling of the story to the audience while also assisting in the granddaughter arriving at a political awakening of her own.
The Rifle Backfire
A little half the midway point of the film after it has becomes abundantly clear that the intentions of the protagonist have not become the reality of experience, he is teaching some young revolutionaries how to shoot a rifle. Instead, the rifle backfires in his face, forcing him to Barcelona to recover from his injuries. The symbolism of the imagery is as painful to understand as the accident is hard to watch. Everything that the protagonist has hoped for since leaving England has backfired on him and in the bigger picture everything about the revolt against Franco will backfire as well, so the imagery works as both a summing up and foreshadowing.
The Banality of Martyrdom
A female revolutionary named Blanca enjoys rare status of being a heroic figure in her right rather than just the love interest of a male protagonist. And her death stands in stark juxtaposition to the protagonist's succumbing to the ravages of natural causes. Blanca dies a hero's death at the bullet of an enemy and, had the revolution gone the other way, she would likely enjoy the posthumous dignity of becoming an icon of the rebellion. But, though buried as a hero, the land is overtaken by the other enemy--the Stalinists--a mere month later. So, her martyrdom--depicted in the arguably the most emotionally gripped imagery in the entire film--winds up taking the form of a photograph inside a pedestrian suitcase sitting unceremoniously atop a closet shelf.
