Luis García Berlanga, who has died aged 89, will be remembered not just for his wonderful films: in making them he also led the shift towards serious film-making in Spain in the 1950s and 1960s. His achievement is all the more remarkable in the context of a military dictatorship that had either eliminated or forced into exile most of the artists who had flourished during the all-too-brief Second Republic. Looking back at his hallmark movies made during the depths of the Franco dictatorship, one can only marvel at his courage and determination, along with his ability to outwit the general’s censors. And while Berlanga was a thorn in the side of the regime —from his first film in 1951 to … [Read more...] about Berlanga, the bad Spaniard