Overview: As the Spanish Civil War draws to a close, Fando, a young boy, is tormented by violently conflicting feelings towards his mother, who he suspects may have had a role in his father’s capture by fascists; feelings that manifest themselves as a nightmare onslaught of terrifying and bizarre imagery.

Based on Fernando Arrabal’s own brutal experiences during the Civil War, Viva la Muerte is a shockingly provocative work of surrealist cinema from the artist and film-maker, who co-founded the Panic Movement collective alongside Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Acclaimed on release by critics and scorned by censors, Viva la Muerte would later achieve notoriety as a midnight movie, and was a favorite film of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Restored in 4K with the collaboration of Fernando Arrabal, Radiance is proud to present Viva la Muerte on English-subtitled Blu-ray for the first time ever.

Blu-ray Verdict: Viva la Muerte (Long Live Death) is a surrealist assault on church and state. The semi-autobiographical film discerns the brutalities of his childhood existence after his mother reported his father as a communist, who was subsequently arrested and detained by Francisco Franco’s regime.

Arrabal was a co-founder of the Panic Movement, a collective concentrated on chaotic surrealness, and this film features some striking images as the child protagonist is continually disturbed by the mental visualizations of his father being tortured or executed. These thoughts are represented through a filtered selection of primary pop art colors, and the cognitive turmoil generates a bombardment of strangeness and motivates some contradicting emotions towards his mother.

Arrabal repeatedly allows the creativity of his unconscious mind to recall the work of artists like Luis Bunuel frequently, and the film overall feels like the output of a man who has been driven insane after coming of age under a repressive and authoritative dictator.

It’s a real treat to finally be deep diving back into this film after all these decades, and I couldn’t be any more excited to take a run through all the great new special features included on this new Blu-ray, out now via Radiance Films.

Special Features:
New 4K restoration of the original 35mm negative by the Cinémathèque Toulouse in collaboration with Fernando Arrabal
Audio discussion from the Project Booth podcast featuring Mike White, Heather Drain and Jess Byard (66 mins)
Sur les traces de Baal - a short documentary by Abdellatif Ben Ammar in which the filmmaker followed Arrabal’s film and captured him at work on Viva la Muerte! (1970, 20 mins)
VIDARRABAL - a feature-length documentary on Arrabal by Xavier Pasturel Barron capturing the life and work of this singular filmmaker, playwright, painter and essayist, featuring interviews with admirers, friends and family, including members of the Panic
Interview with scholar and Spanish cinema expect David Archibald
Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
Booklet featuring new writing by Sabina Stent and archival interview with Fernando Arrabal

www.radiancefilms.co.uk