GENERAL REPORT II
A film by Pere Portabella
2016, 126 minutes
2016, 126 minutes
No. 093
Documentary
Documentary
Description
General Report II: The New Abduction of Europe is a fascinating investigation of the economic, political, social, and environmental crises currently affecting Europe from legendary Catalan filmmaker Pere Portabella.
The film works in dialogue with its 1976 predecessor General Report, while expanding dramatically on its scope, positing that European reality today is every bit as unhinged as it was 40 years ago.
Onscreen conversations between activists, movement leaders, politicians, and scientists accumulate to form a registry of the current state of affairs — and an inventory of ways to face it. As he engineers encounters with experts at museums and cultural institutions, Portabella gives us a behind-the-scenes look at not just the construction of culture but its relation to power. And in documenting the recent presidential election in Catalonia, he examines how the issues affecting Europe play out in microcosm in his home country.
These topics and more combine to form a panoptic view of human society's fragility and future.
The film works in dialogue with its 1976 predecessor General Report, while expanding dramatically on its scope, positing that European reality today is every bit as unhinged as it was 40 years ago.
Onscreen conversations between activists, movement leaders, politicians, and scientists accumulate to form a registry of the current state of affairs — and an inventory of ways to face it. As he engineers encounters with experts at museums and cultural institutions, Portabella gives us a behind-the-scenes look at not just the construction of culture but its relation to power. And in documenting the recent presidential election in Catalonia, he examines how the issues affecting Europe play out in microcosm in his home country.
These topics and more combine to form a panoptic view of human society's fragility and future.
Festivals
Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival
Reviews
"Only Portabella could make the Spanish equivalent of a two-hour NPR broadcast not only fascinating but genuinely cinematic." — Notebook
"A hypnotic and stirring account of post-financial crash Spain. The freshest voice I encountered during the International Film Festival Rotterdamn." — Sight & Sound
"While the once engagé Godard now seems more retiré, Portabella has—in a career spanning seven decades and films running from two minutes to four hours—deepened our sense of what a truly political political cinema can be." — Cinema Scope
"A hypnotic and stirring account of post-financial crash Spain. The freshest voice I encountered during the International Film Festival Rotterdamn." — Sight & Sound
"While the once engagé Godard now seems more retiré, Portabella has—in a career spanning seven decades and films running from two minutes to four hours—deepened our sense of what a truly political political cinema can be." — Cinema Scope
