Anna Bello on Obaba

Here you have a review on the movie "Obaba".

It was published at Nine O'Clock:

An emotional trip to the heart of the Basques

One of this week's advance-premieres is a film that was shown in the Shadows sections of TIFF 2006

published in issue 3719 page 12 at 2006-07-11

“Obaba, or the Hidden Land” is a European film to the very heart, and you will love every minute of it. An investigative trip to a mysterious, isolated Basque hill town populated by eccentrics (and a fair dash of lizards) becomes a mesmerizing and evocative experience for protagonist and viewer alike in Montxo Armendariz’s wonderful screen treatment “Obaba,” a delicately fashioned look at memory and identity that creates an alternative world. The film carefully unlocks the past to study its effect on the present. The production’s fresh vision and fusion of regional charm with magic realism should ensure art house interest from viewers.

University student Lourdes heads for Obaba with her camera to complete a video assignment. Even before she’s arrived, things start to turn strange: driving up the lonely forested road to the village, she runs into Ismael, owner of the local hostel, clutching a lizard and darkly muttering that Obaba is “87 bends” away. When she asks for directions from elderly Tomas, his sister Begona hysterically informs her that he’s deaf because, as a schoolboy, Ismael put a lizard in his ear that devoured part of his brain - a shocking, absurd notion, but one that seems to be borne out by an old photo hanging in the hostel.

This peculiar way of looking at life affects Lourdes more and more strongly as things proceed. She falls in love with happy-go-lucky Miguel, whose mother mysteriously leaves flowers on the grave of a dead German engineer. The sense is of a community that has evolved independently of the outside world and which follows its own rules - which makes it both charming and dangerous. Given that Lourdes is an outsider, the inhabitants of Obaba open up to her a little too easily. Their stories are the substance of three self-contained 1960’s flashbacks, stories interesting to Lourdes because they deal with people who, like herself, are marginal to Obaba life. Each adopts a different visual aesthetic.

The film is based on the bestselling novel “Obabakoak” by Bernardo Atxaga.

The transition from the complex narrative of a novel to a two hour film is handled masterfully, as the director maintains the novel’s central point about the importance of stories in defining ourselves.

The director’s affection for the world he has created is evident, and superbly rendered by great cinematography, signed by Javier Aguirresarobe’s master lenses. Overall, this will not be your average summer film treat, as it is as far away from Hollywood as any respectable European production should be, but nevertheless, you will find it enjoyable and heartwarming.

m Obaba (Spain 2005); Directed by Montxo Armendariz; With Pilar Lopez de Ayala, Barbara Lennie; Distributed by Transylvania Film

by Anna Bello

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Fireworks and Fueros

Fireworks explode behind La Estatua de los Fueros, symbol of the ancient laws of Navarra, on the fourth day of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona July 10, 2006. A pack of fighting bulls run through the centre of the town to the bullring every morning during the week-long festival made famous by U.S. writer Ernest Hemingway. REUTERS/Vincent West (SPAIN)

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Dylan in Donosti

Some web surfers have been visiting this blog looking for information about the "Concert for Peace" to take place in Donosti.

Well, Dylan's appearence is to take place in just a couple of days, on Tuesday, July 11th. This is the information provided by Donostia's web site (in Spanish):

Concierto por la Paz

Here you have the note:

Dylan to sing for Basque peace

14 minutes ago

Bob Dylan, the 1960s peace movement icon, will headline a free concert in the Basque city of San Sebastian lending support to the peace process in the region.

The concert at Zurriola Beach Sunday will be a "happening that will be remembered as a milestone in the path of peace", according to the event's organisers, who expect 50,000 people to attend.

"We are living days of hope when at last peace is possible. The gathering of thousands of people united by the music and over political ideas of any kind looks like the best way to symbolise this moment," a statement said.

In June Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced that his government would open talks with the armed Basque movement ETA to try to end nearly four decades of separatist unrest which has killed 850 people.

Three months after the group declared a permanent ceasefire, Zapatero said the time was right for dialogue but cautioned that it would be "a long, hard and difficult" process.

US-born Dylan, 65, author of peace anthems such as "Blowing in the Wind" and "Masters of War", will come on stage at around 9:00 pm (1900 GMT), after Mikel Laboa, a "living legend of Basque music", according to the organisers.

The evening will then continue with a fireworks display and sets from experimental electronics star Javi Pez and Barcelona-based group Macaco.

By the way, I find the paragraph "after Mikel Laboa, a 'living legend of Basque music', according to the organisers" to be a bit patronizing.

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Keyword Analysis 07/08/06

I have not done this for a long time, so, here we go.

I will try to give an answer to visitors that have been to this blog in the last few hours, hopefully this will help.

ikastolas boise basque center

Here you have the link to the Basque Center in Boise regarding the ikastola they house in their installations:

Boiseko Ikastola

Just in case you want to learn some Euskera (Basque language) and you happen to live in the Boise area.

what do basque people look like

Well, here you have some pictures:

names of people of basque nationality that have won the tour de france

That would be Miguel Indurain who won the tour five consecutive times. Although he never really said it during his career, only he knows why.

And that's it for today.

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Basque Solidarity in Bil'in

Two occupied lands, two people coming together.

This report about the Zanpantzart dancers from Euskal Herria marching along with Palestinians and Israelis who want peace and want to work hard to stop the genocidal land grab by the Zionist occupation forces.

It appeared at Scoop:

Basque and Bil'in Forces Keep the Beat

Saturday, 8 July 2006, 12:41 pm

Press Release: International Solidarity Movement

On July 7th, at 13:00 the people of Bil'in, joined by a Basque Nationalist musical group and International and Israeli activists, started their weekly rally to protest the ongoing construction of the illegal Apartheid wall on their lands. One hundred people started the march, which was launched in front of the mosque and ended at the gate in the wall.

The Basque musical group, in traditional ceremonial attire and formation, kept the beat for the demonstration by marching with large bells that they wore on their lower backs, led by an individual in front who blew on a traditional horn. They were chased away by rubber bullets and sound bombs from the soldiers but returned to perform their art and pass through the line of soldiers that were holding people back. They stated their intent of solidarity with the Palestinians: "we too have been fighting an occupation of our lands for generations", and wished to express their support for the Palestinian resistance.

The demonstration turned violent when soldiers tried to arrest non-violent protester, Iyad Burnet. Other Palestinians and one international came to his aid to try to prevent his arrest and were caught between the Jeeps and the barbed wire as soldiers beat them. They grabbed the hands of the soldiers to stop the beating and were successful in deescalating the situation so they could talk with the soldiers.

Iyad Burnet was again targeted for arrest and pulled inside the gate, separated by the group by rolls of barbed wire. Several people ran to his aid, despite being blocked by soldiers, and a small group was able to successfully prevent his arrest.

The demonstration ended with five people injured. Ahmed Mohammed Hamad, 55, of Bil'in suffered damage to his right ear from a sound bomb. Mohammed Katib, 33, of Bil'in suffered bruises and tears to the skin in his left torso from soldiers roughing him up. Michael, 23, from the US, suffered tears in the skin of his forearms from schrapnel from a sound bomb. His right forearm was damaged when he was thrown by one soldier against another's shield with extreme force. Ashrof Askar, 22, of Tulkarem, suffered a rubber bullet to his upper left thigh as he was walking by the soldiers. Khaled, 18, of Bil'in, was hit with a rubber bullet in the leg.

This evening the army revoked the order declaring the area a closed military zone. A team of three internationals gained access through the gate which had been denied to them after the demonstration. They have now relieved the lone Palestinian who was manning the outpost, and the area has been declared open for the time being.

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Bird Flu in Euskal Herria

According to a note published today, the virus strain known as the bird flu has been detected in Araba.

Here you have the note:

Spain finds first case of deadly bird flu virus

Fri Jul 7, 9:58 AM ET

The first case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus recorded in Spain has been found in a wild bird in the northern Basque country, the agriculture ministry has said.

"The reference laboratory confirms the appearance of a case of avian flu of the highly pathogenic H5N1 type in a sample from a wild aquatic bird, a great crested grebe," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the stipulated measures had been taken, with a protection zone established of three kilometres (two miles) radius around the spot where the bird was found, and a wider surveillance zone of 10 kilometres.

Inside the zones the transport of domestic birds and the hunting of wild birds had been banned.

A ministry spokesman said earlier the grebe had been discovered in the province of Avala, and played down the danger.

The spokesman said several cases of less pathogenic H5N1 had already been detected in Spain but not made public.

Spain is the 20th country in Europe to report H5N1, according to the website of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), not including Russia and Turkey.

Experts fear bird flu cases will increase in Europe with the autumn migration season, though fears of a continent-wide epidemic in the spring proved groundless.

The main worry is that the H5N1 virus will mutate and become easily transmissible from human to human, causing a pandemic like the Spanish flu in 1918 which killed millions of people.

More than 120 people worldwide have died from bird flu since it re-emerged as a threat in 2003 -- most of them in Asia.

Also Friday veterinary authorities in Denmark said an H5 type virus of low risk had been found in a wild duck breeding centre near Viborg in the north of the country.

Several thousand birds have been slaughtered as a precaution, veterinary official Preben Willeberg told AFP.

Denmark recorded Europe's first case of H5N1 in domestic birds on May 18.

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Ancient Basque Pottery

No, this has nothing to do with an ancient Harry Potter cult in Eukal Herria.

Here, read this report that comes to us thanks to the Basque Research page:

Study on archaeological pottery finds in the Basque Country

With shards and fragments and other pottery artefacts that have survived the ravages of time, ancient civilisations can be better understood. In general, these investigations are carried out by archaeologists, basing their work on the shapes and other parameters of pottery remains. Geologists at the Department of Mineralogy and Petrology at the University of the Basque Country (EHU-UPV) are putting the finishing touches to this research project, using certain techniques based on geology.

Researchers at the EHU-UPV studied pottery from the Neolithic to the XVI century, generally those artefacts found in the Basque Country. They focused on archaeological investigation using physical-chemical techniques. These have the twin objectives of obtaining information about the technology used in making pottery as well as obtaining data on the raw material(s) used in the production of the pieces.

In all cases, the pieces were first classified into a number of different groups by the archaeologists, according to the following parameters: shape, function, decoration and what could be deduced from observations of cuts in the fragments with a magnifying glass. Subsequently, it was the geologists that had to confirm and determine the characteristics of each group.

Basic techniques

Geologists first carried out a petrographic study of the pieces, using a petrographic microscope. Unlike the usual microscope, this has polarised light and a gyrating platform on which to place the sample. They looked at thin laminas of the samples and, based on the texture and mineralogical composition of both the clay and the additives, they received a classification; generally, a more exact classification than that obtained by the archaeologists.

After the petrographic study, a mineralogical investigation was undertaken, using X-ray diffraction. In most cases, from a mineralogical perspective, no information over and above that obtained from the petrographic analysis is obtained. But there is one exception: when the pottery has undergone high temperatures in the firing process, given that certain minerals are destroyed and transformed at these high temperatures. This is the reason, amongst others, why X-ray diffraction is used – to see if these mineral indicators appear.

Also, if the firing temperature is the same in all the pottery, this suggests that the firing technology was sufficiently developed and controlled. From a technological perspective, this knowledge is of great importance.

For example, according to the results obtained to date, it has been shown that the Romans, when they needed to, fired their pottery at over 1,100 degrees centigrade. They had very specific kilns given over to this task and, moreover, they had a rigorous control over the material(s) used.

Not only the Romans but also Neolithic individuals knew perfectly well what had to be mixed with clay in order to change the physical-chemical properties of the original material. The oldest data from the Mendandia (Saseta, Treviño) site shows that, for example, what was mixed with the clay depended on the final use of the pottery item.

In the end, the researchers interpreted the treatment of the clay and the aim of such treatment. For example, additives are mixed with the clay to give the latter consistency; if carbonates are added it is because they wanted to use the pottery for cooking.

Finally, a chemical analysis of the items were carried out, either to pigeonhole the groups or to form new groups. This new technique provides approximate information about the geological material of the area that was the source of this clay; i.e. if the clay is near to or distant from the site, etc. To this end, it is useful to know the geological environment of the site. Having knowledge of the geological environment of archaeological sites has its advantage and, clearly, a good knowledge thereof can greatly facilitate the work.

In any case, the aim is not to exactly delimit the source area of this clay, but simply to mark out an environment. It is believed that some of the groups of remains studied originate from areas around Aquitania and Bidasoa. Certain specific minerals have also been found that are laying down specific geological procedures. Ophites, for example, are very characteristic in all pottery finds in the Pamplona basin.

Researchers at the University of the Basque Country are in the process of gathering information that can be observed with a magnifying glass only with difficulty.

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They Finally Met

To have been a fly on a wall in that room.

Patxi López, the infamous Basque scab finally met face to face with Arnaldo Otegi. I wonder what a little man like Patxi feels when he is in the presence of a person that embodies all what he hates, what he has dedicated his whole life to destroy.

When a Spaniard says that the Basque Country does not deserve independence is somewhat expected. But when individuals like Patxi insist on being Basque and then goes on to champion the big lie that the Basques do not long for self-determination then things are a bit different.

Well, I bet all of Patxi's principles were put to the test. Here is the report on the meeting between the PSE and Batasuna, although the reporter for some reason decided to switch the name of the political party and replaced it with ETA, something that turns Daniel Woolls into the Basque-phobe of the week. Someone should inform Daniel that the meetings with ETA will not take place until September, and that the accusation of Batasuna being ETA's political arm is just that, an accusation, therefore and since this is the free world, one is innocent until proven guilty.

Here it is:

Spanish ruling party official meets ETA

By DANIEL WOOLLS, Associated Press Writer

Thu Jul 6, 12:36 PM ET

A delegate from Spain's ruling party met with the leader of an outlawed Basque separatist group Thursday in historic talks hailed by both sides as a possible step toward peace.

The meeting in the Basque city of San Sebastian brought together Arnaldo Otegi, the leader of Batasuna, the political wing of the armed separatist group ETA, and Patxi Lopez, leader of the Basque branch of the governing Socialist party.

ETA declared a permanent cease-fire in March after decades of violence that claimed more than 800 lives, and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said last week he will negotiate with the group, having concluded the truce is sincere. His announcement gave the go-ahead for Thursday's talks.

Otegi, the most visible pro-independence politician in the Basque region, who once served jail time for taking part in an ETA kidnapping, said his party has had secret contacts with the Socialist party for years. He said it's now possible to envision "a historic and real opportunity to resolve the political conflict."

The prime minister's political opponents, however, were outraged by the meeting and called it a handshake with terrorists.

"The meeting was held with a terrorist organization which has neither condemned nor renounced criminal activity, and this makes the meeting especially immoral," said Mariano Rajoy, leader of the conservative Popular Party.

His party says Zapatero is wrongly allowing contacts with the outlawed Batasuna party before ETA has surrendered and dissolved.

Lopez said the meeting was legal even though Batasuna remains outlawed under a ban instituted in 2003 by the Supreme Court. That ban — put in place on the grounds the party is part of ETA — stripped it of the right to engage in political activities and shut down its offices, though it has remained legal to belong to Batasuna.

Lopez said the talks were aimed at encouraging Batasuna to renounce violence and work toward lifting the ban. "If until today they were part of the problem, we now want them to be part of the solution," he said.

Otegi insisted the Basque people have the right to decide their own future but said any accord on the region's future must be negotiated with Basques who want it to remain part of Spain.

Thursday's meeting marked the first time a representative of a governing party in Spain has conferred openly with a delegate of an outlawed party that is classified as part of a terrorist organization. Officials of past governments have met with members of Batasuna or even ETA, but those talks were always secret and disclosed only after the fact.

Zapatero has stressed that talks should focus on ETA's dissolution and the status of more than 500 ETA prisoners in Spanish jails, not the militant group's stated goal of winning independence for the Basque regions of northern Spain and southern France.

The Basque group has not killed anyone since a May 2003 car bombing that claimed the lives of two policemen, although prior to the cease-fire announcement in March it had kept up relatively low-level bomb attacks designed to extort money from local businessmen.

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Txupinazo 2006

Revellers fill Pamplona's town hall square as they celebrate the start of San Fermin festival July 6, 2006. REUTERS/Joseba Etxaburu

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No Anchovies for You!

Picture taken in May 2001 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, southern France, of fishermen unloading their anchovy fishing. The European Commission announced 03 July 2006 that it was banning anchovy fishing in the Bay of Biscay, off the coasts of France and Spain, until the end of the year because stocks are dwindling.(AFP/File/Daniel Velez)

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