The Cuenca Game
(El Crimen de Cuenca)
Pilar Miró / Spain / 1979 / 88 min
Spanish with English subtitles
Two village men are falsely convicted of murdering a shepherd. Based on real events, The Cuenca Game focuses on two village men, falsely convicted of murdering a shepherd and subjected to torture and imprisonment. The film’s depiction of the torture too closely referenced the brutality of Franco’s police during the regime’s final years both are tried and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Six years later they left jail and only two years later appears alive the man who allegedly killed. Military courts blocked the premiere and unsuccessfully prosecuted Miró for slandering the Civil Guard. When released in 1981, four years after censonship was abolished, it became the highest grossing film in Spanish box-office history.