Past Pain: Insensibles (2012) and The Mechanisms Of The Fantastic and Terror in The Service of Recovery of Historical Memory

Abstract

Since the beginning of the millennium, a  sector of the Spanish cultural activity has been devoted to the recovery of historical memory. Part of a global process, the creations associated with this current were soon absorbed by the entertainment industry. This fact distorted its original essence; in turn, it led to an enriching phenomenon, linking the critical purpose with genres traditionally regarded as popular: the fantastic and horror. This can be appreciated especially in film, with movies like The Devil’s Backbone or Pan’s Labyrinth, which address some of the darkest passages in the history of Spain from an openly anti-realist perspective. The same pattern is followed by the film here analyzed: Juan Carlos Medina Insensibles (2012). Focused on the Francoist crimes, it resorts to defining strategies of these genres, constituting a valuable contribution to its growth in the domestic film industry.