Love in the Rif or the Battle of Annual, viewed by Spanish cinematographers

In the framework of exploring the depths of the Spanish imaginary in its relationship with Morocco and understanding its representations of the Moroccan human being, society, history and culture that frame the "disturbing and disconcerting" southern neighbour, I present to you this critical/cinematographic analysis of the series 'Tiempos de guerra', which was screened in January 2018 on Netflix. 

The approach, especially the theme of the relationship with Morocco and the Moroccans, may be of interest to specialists in Spanish film production, specialists in colonial and orientalist studies, historians and students of literature and art from the perspective of 'cultural studies' and 'postcolonial studies'.

'Tiempos de guerra' is a series of (mostly) melodramatic stories about the Rif War as seen by nurses from the nobility and wealthy classes who volunteer in the Spanish Army to help the wounded. Nurses who fall in love and try to combine the call of duty with the beating of the heart in a culturally different environment during a period of living at the mercy of a barrage of bullets, blood and murder. The result is an experience that alters their worldview, themselves, and, perhaps (this is the implicit wish of the directors), even the eternal enemy, the "Moor", who has haunted the Spanish collective imagination since the Middle Ages.

The Spanish-produced series (Bambú Producciones for Atresmedia) was directed by David Pinillos, Manuel Gómez Pereira and Eduardo Chapero-Jackson, and starred Amaia Salamanca (who had a successful role in the Spanish series 'Velvet' and 'Grand Hotel', also available on Netflix) and José Sacristán (also 'Velvet'), Marcel Borràs , Verónica Sánchez , Vicente Romero and Alicia Borrachero (the latter acted in Gema R. Neira's 'La Embajada').

The synopsis published by 'Beta Film' (a film production company) about the series is as follows:
"Tiempos de guerra, a series based on real events and real people. In the 1920s, the Queen of Spain sends a group of women of noble origin, who received only basic training, to Morocco to treat the wounded in the Spanish-Moroccan war. Unlike her companions (and rivals), Julia received no training; her goal was to find her fiancé and his brother, two Spanish soldiers who were lost during the battle. Julia sneaked onto the ship carrying the nurses to Melilla, but is later discovered by Carmen, the head nurse who had a very strong personality. The journey Julia embarked on changed the meaning of her life forever. Being in direct contact with the suffering of the wounded and the difficult conditions of the work in the field hospital made Julia, Magdalena and Veronica reconsider the ethics and priorities they believe in, reaching a deeper understanding of who they really are and what they expect from life and love.

The synopsis of 'Beta Film' does not at all point to the colonial period, the battle of Annual, or the underlying geological deposits as any representation of the Spanish-Moroccan relationship, governed by centuries of prejudice and fixed ethnic representations. These issues mentioned in the series, whenever the directors attempt to raise them with a kind of historicism disguised as political modernity, appear more, intentionally or unintentionally, in the difficulty of overcoming or addressing them without resorting to stereotypes of "the Arab", "the Moroccan" or "the Moor" in general.

More in depth, we also find a clever attempt to justify the Spanish defeat at Annual by creating the theme of betrayal throughout the narrative, as well as the theme of violence, ferocity and the low morale of the 'other', in addition to the conflicts and intrigues within the military establishment and between it and political power (which historically will lead, later in the series' imagery, to the coup of Barcelona by General Miguel Primo de Rivera in September 1923, and which the series hints at with some hesitant foresight).
    
The series is melodramatic in every sense of the word, at the level of the characters, who are either good or bad, or the plot, which revolves around emotion and what it provokes of crying, love, disappointment and narrative complexities about the characters' rivalry to win a love from the beloved. All in a world of war and chaos of blood, carnage and destruction.

However, the series remains epic as it treats, with remarkable scenographic professionalism, the stories of the nurses and their relationship with the wounded soldiers, the military institution and the royal institution, in the light of a larger struggle represented by a fierce enemy (Ibn Abd al-Karim and the Moroccans in general) that appears only through bombardment, destruction and intrigue. On the other hand, the Spaniards with their patriotism and love for the so-called kings, despite their struggles, the weakness of their abilities and the traitors among them, resisted defeat with dignity, love and altruism ...

The melodramatic and epic dimensions frame the succession of episodes in the series from beginning to end. The theme of patriotism and sacrifice appears from the very first episode, which narrates in the accompanying commentary how "the Duchess (Carmen) leads a group of upper-class women from Madrid to open a field hospital in Melilla to help the wounded of the Rif War in very difficult circumstances". The sacrifice will be most dramatic and moving in scenes in which the Duchess Carmen is stricken by a terminal illness that exhausts her body and she tries (sometimes desperately) to hide it in order to remain in Melilla to treat the sick. 

Julia's sacrifice to search for her fiancé and brother in the middle of the Rif Mountains in times of war and destruction. Another type of sacrifice for the sake of the family and the fulfilment of the promise; these are basic themes in the set of values that the series tries to represent through narrative stories about "love"; love for the beloved and for the brother, values that are often inherent to the theme of patriotism in the construction of conservative values.

In full compliance with melodramatic logic, we find an exchange of sacrifice and loyalty, and, from the second episode, the theme of betrayal. Betrayal of trust, betrayal of the values of solidarity in times of distress and betrayal of the homeland. Embodied by Commander Silva who shot his soldiers who did not want to surrender and throw in the towel in battle, also strangled one of the wounded soldiers so that he would not testify against them and almost caused the execution of Pedro, Julia's brother. Silva ends up committing suicide after the truth is revealed. This character embodied the villain in the melodramatic construction. However, it seems to be an attempt by the filmmakers not to fall into the duality of the (Moroccan) other - the evil and the (Spanish) self - the good. Thus adopting the duality of good and evil within the space of the self.

But the theme of betrayal becomes more ambiguous when it comes to the other, i.e. the Rifians, the Arabs or the Moroccans. Did they betray anyone or break any promises?  This is an implicit theme, of which we do not find a specific narrative, except, indirectly, in the story of "Al-Arabi", who represents "the positive side" of the other, the "Moor". 

In one scene in the series, an upper-class woman shouted: "How can they (referring to the Rifians) do all this (defeat us in Annual) after all that we have given them?" However, all the episodes are silent on what Spain has provided to the Rifians and Moroccans in general.

Al-Arabi "is not a Rifian in the strictly Amazigh sense, nor is he referred to as a Moroccan (Morocco does not exist in the semantic dictionary of the series), nor as a "Moor" because it is an unacceptable pejorative term. Hence the choice of "Al-Arabi" or Arabic, a broad name that suggests multiple connotations about the other in its anthropological and historical dimensions.

Even on a semiotic level, Al-Arabi wears "Qandaris" (shitty trousers) and speaks fluent Spanish, his Arabic is unusual, he is cheerful, friendly and helpful. 

He is the good face of the other, he works without causing trouble (except when he tried to help Julia and Magdalena, and was consequently expelled from the hospital, which satisfied the Spaniards who do not accept dealing with the other, no matter how good he is).

From the protectocolonial perspective: the Rifians should be like Al-Arabi, i.e. learn Spanish, accept the cleaning job in the hospital, be grateful, and if they insist on wearing Qandaris trousers, to maintain a relationship with their local culture, it is acceptable.
Al-Arabi is the antithesis of his evil brother, who attacked Julia near the port, and of the Rifians fighting the Spanish army. He is the "Moor" who accepts the colonial situation and serves it without question. He is handsome, kind, affectionate and in love with Magdalena.  These are all qualifications that bring him closer to the Spaniards, despite his apparent ethnic origin which is represented by semiotic signs such as his trousers, his black hair, his Arab and even his evident naivety which is reflected in the smile that never leaves his face. He can stand up to question the Spanish if his "Arab" ethnicity is the reason for their exclusion or distrust of him. But that is not the same as questioning the political situation or the authority relations generated by the colonial situation.

Part of Spanish society may not accept Magdalena's love for Al-Arabi and the annulment of her engagement to an upper-class lord because of it, but this does not mean that Al-Arabi will never aspire to become quasi-Spanish.

The series, despite its attempts to be "politically just" (in its own way) towards Al-Arabi - the excellent son of the empire, as Edward Said might call him - did not once question the colonial situation. On the contrary, he presents Al-Khattabi, the Rifians and the Arabs (which are multiple denominations of the same thing according to the series) as someone who undermines the moment of possible vision. If only they were all like Al-Arabi: hard-working, kind and non-confrontational, who does not ask questions that might disintegrate the structure of the colonial hierarchy by making the coloniser fear the colonised.

Anger, sadness, deterioration, blood and death are the inevitable result of the change of equation brought about by the Rifians under the leadership of Ibn Abd al-Karim. This is the underlying message within the narrative, its themes and the semiotics of the cinematic image. The series attempts to reconcile the supposed "greatness of Spain" (an implicit theme also inspired by the prestige of the King and Queen, the military organisation, the national unity among the nobles, the wealthy classes and the soldiers, as well as the existence of a vital zone called "Spanish Africa") on the one hand, and its defeat at the hands of revolutionaries who inhabit mountains and caves and live a semi-primitive life according to several scenes in the series, on the other hand.

Spain's greatness is present, but it is internal betrayal (the metropolitans) and external betrayal (the revolutionaries who do not take Al-Arabi as an example), as well as a failure to focus on higher values based on love and shared humanity, love and sacrifice, that puts it at stake. The defeat of Annual is but one proof of this greatness and the recruitment of the nobles, the wealthy classes, women and the population at large. (through the NCOs) to support the cause, is nothing more than a hope for a return to normality, sooner or later. 
'Amor en tiempos de guerra' is a series that tried to undermine some stereotypes about the other, especially the "Moors"; and tried to make the affluent classes question the values on which social roles were built, especially when they find themselves in a difficult situation such as war and destruction. It tried to establish an ideal discourse based on values, such as love and friendship, drawn from a humanity that transcends ethnic and cultural boundaries. But it remained faithful to the Spanish colonial ideology that considers Spain's geographical expansion overseas an inevitable destiny and a continuation of the process of the reconquest of Al-Andalus and the discovery of the new world. This destiny makes defeat, at the hands of the revolutionaries as happened at Annual, a difficult test of the greatness of the Metropolis against the ungrateful sons of the empire. What is astonishing about this series (and amusing at the same time) is that these messages surfaced despite the attempts of the directors and actors to give a more humane and modest picture of the experience as the suffering of individuals, groups and classes. A poetic scenographic irony that makes the series highlight against its will what it tries to repress. Every time it tries to give a politically, ethically and deductively acceptable appearance it sinks deeper and deeper into a swamp of contradictions that leads it to try to find excuses for the colonial fact and the rational interpretation of the reality of the disaster (Annual), and it is an interpretation absent of the post-colonial response according to which "Annual" becomes a foundational victory from the point of view of the Rifians and the Moroccans as a whole.