Gladdened by the recent news that Santiago Segura is making his fourth Torrente film, and in 3D, I was prompted to illegally download and re-watch the three previous movies in the series. Like his hero Peter Sellers, who for most movie fans will forever be Inspector Clouseau, Spanish comic Santiago Segura seems unable, or unwilling, to shake off his alter ego, Inspector José Luis Torrente. Little wonder: the racist, sexist, homophobic Madrid cop is one of the biggest pulls in Spanish cinema. Torrente 2: Mission in Marbella, made in 2001, remains the most profitable Spanish film of all time. The Torrente formula is simple: lots of smutty jokes at our hero’s expense; plenty of gratuitous … [Read more...] about Santiago Segura is Torrente… and an incurable romantic
Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz: compare and contrast
Having appeared in several films together dating back to the beginnings of their careers in the early 1990s, and being the first Spanish actors to be nominated for Oscars, then the first to win the coveted statuette, there seemed a certain inevitability about Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz’s announcement in July that they had finally got married. Needless to say, the media made great play of two Academy Award winners tying the knot: as more than one story trumpeted, it’s a “marriage made in Oscar heaven.” For the domestic press this was yet another example of Spain’s international success, —somewhat overshadowed by the World Cup, it has to be said— while for the rest of the world there … [Read more...] about Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz: compare and contrast
Opposing Spain’s abortion law: don’t blame the Church
On July 5, Spain introduced legislation bringing the country’s abortion laws into line with those across northern Europe. In essence, the new law allows the procedure without restrictions up to 14 weeks and gives 16-year-olds the right to have abortions without parental consent. Until now abortion had been illegal unless the woman could prove that she was raped, that the foetus was malformed, or that the pregnancy endangered her physical or mental health. In practice, the latter reason was used across a network of private clinics, which perform around 100,000 abortions a year. The issue has been reported in the international media as a battle between the secular Socialist Party … [Read more...] about Opposing Spain’s abortion law: don’t blame the Church
Spain’s drug problem
If the yardstick measuring a country’s drug problem is the widespread availability at low prices of banned chemical substances, then it would seem Spain has a drug problem. The EU’s European Drug Observatory says that around 120 tons of cocaine is intercepted each year by police in Europe, and that three quarters of those seizures take place in Spain and Portugal. Attempting to estimate how much the police miss is next to impossible. An often-cited figure that law enforcement agencies catch just 10 percent of the illegal trade is not based on empirical evidence - although extrapolations are frequently used to guess the extent of domestic drug supply by multiplying the volume of seizures … [Read more...] about Spain’s drug problem
Overcrowding leaves Spain’s prisons on the brink
Madrid’s Valdemoro prison, known as “Madrid III”, sits amid the arid badlands south of the capital, a few miles off the main road to Andalusia. Like all of Spain’s 87 prisons, Valdemoro is overcrowded. It was built to accommodate 980 prisoners, but now holds more than 1,500. A further 20 jails in the country are at more than twice their original capacity. Valdemoro is a holding centre for suspects in cases led by the investigating judges of the High Court. That principally means those accused of terrorism, along with suspected drug and arms traffickers. It is where the men responsible for the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings were held while awaiting trial. Among the foreigners … [Read more...] about Overcrowding leaves Spain’s prisons on the brink
Baltasar Garzón: a judge too far?
On Monday May 24, judge Baltasar Garzón began a seven-month stint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. The move came 10 days after an emotional farewell from the Spanish High Court, where for the last 22 years he has presided over some of the country’s most infamous cases. He was suspended from his duties in Madrid after his nemesis, Luciano Varela, the presiding Supreme Court judge whose enmity toward Garzón is no secret, hastily brought forward trial proceedings into allegations that the magistrate had overstepped his authority by investigating the crimes of the Franco era. Varela’s decision was widely seen as a deliberate move to humiliate Garzón by preventing … [Read more...] about Baltasar Garzón: a judge too far?
Awareness grows, but domestic abuse goes on
In 1994, Spanish television used to broadcast a reality show called Lo que necesitas es amor, which translates as What you need is love. On one occasion the presenter sought to reunite a couple who had fallen out and was discussing their problems with them in front of the studio audience. At one point she asked the young woman what she didn’t like about her boyfriend. “For example,” she said smiling: “he doesn’t beat you does he?” This prompted nervous titters from the audience, and the young woman squirmed slightly. “Well…” she began. The presenter turned to the hapless boyfriend, and with mock severity asked him: “you don’t beat her do you?” The boyfriend smiled a little shamefacedly and … [Read more...] about Awareness grows, but domestic abuse goes on
Spain gets secular… with its Muslims
A Madrid state-run secondary school’s decision to ban a 16-year-old female pupil from wearing a hijab, or Islamic headscarf, to classes has hit the headlines, bringing to the surface the uncomfortable issue of the place in public life of Spain’s more than one million Muslims. The Camilo José Cela school in the prosperous Madrid suburb of Pozuelo has decided that Najwa Malha, who was born in Spain to Moroccan immigrants, has violated its dress code by wearing the hijab. The school’s board has ratified the decision by an overwhelming majority, and Malha has been receiving individual tuition in the school’s waiting room. Her options are simple: accept the ban and remove her headscarf, or … [Read more...] about Spain gets secular… with its Muslims
Garzón, the PP, and a Byzantine justice system
As growing numbers of people around the world will know by now, investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzón is in hot water. The man best-known for having ordered the arrest of Augusto Pinochet in 1998 is being investigated by his colleagues in the Supreme Court on three counts. If found guilty, his career will be over. There is something of a whiff of conspiracy about this sudden fall from grace. The first investigation is into accusations that he dropped tax fraud charges against executives of Banco Santander in return for $302,000-worth of sponsorship by the bank for a series of lectures on human rights he gave at New York University in 2003. This hearing is currently underway. The … [Read more...] about Garzón, the PP, and a Byzantine justice system
The industrialisation of prostitution
For the first time, the Spanish police have released figures on the number of women reportedly forced into prostitution by traffickers and pimps. Last year, the authorities say police rescued or were approached by around 1,300 women working in the sex industry against their will, most of them from Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Africa. The real figure is undoubtedly much, much, higher: over the last three years, the police have smashed more than 40 prostitution networks alone. Official estimates put the number of female prostitutes in Spain at around 100,000. Other sources put it as high as 400,000. More than 80 percent are foreigners, and most were brought here by international … [Read more...] about The industrialisation of prostitution