José Luis Borau did everything in cinema: director, producer, screenwriter and even actor. He was behind uncomfortable films like My dear lady, by Jaime de Armiñan, and One, two, three… to the English hideoutby Iván Zulueta, but Stealths It is all his: it is, what is called now, auteur cinema. Borau wrote the script with Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón (finished when the first part was already being filmed) and this tells us the story of Ángel, a poacher who lives with his mother in the forest. One day he goes down to Madrid and to the Rastro meet Milagrosa woman who flees from the place where she grew up, a reform school, and from a man, a criminal called “El Cuqui.” Ángel, smitten, takes her home and falls in love with her, but her mother receives her with acrimony. and the tension grows until it explodes into tragedy.
The ‘perfect’ cast
The character of Ángel is played by the Catalan singer-songwriter Ovidi Montllor. This was his second film, after debuting with Spanish Fury, a comedy. In Furtivos he completely changed register and at his side was the incomparable Lola Gaos, loose verse of Spanish cinema. Specialized critics point out that her performance as Martina, Ángel’s mother, is the best work of her extensive career. The central drama triangle completes it Alicia Sánchez in the role of Milagros. This role was previously offered to Ángela Molina, but she had to reject, they say, because the script required a drastic haircut and that affected the shoots she had signed: I don’t want to lose honor y The protected. Lola Gaos accepted Borau and Gutiérrez Aragón’s proposal without reading the script, and much of the text was written with her in mind.
Ovidi Montllor and Lola Gaos in ‘Furtivos’, by José Luis Borau
The great role of Lola Gaos
José Luis Borau said that the success of Furtivos was due to two things: Lola Gaos and the forest. Dolores Gaos González-Pola -Lola Gaos was born into a large family of Republican parents (they had fourteen children, but only nine survived). Although as a young girl she wanted to study Medicine, the death of her father in a French concentration camp disrupted her plans, as the family went into exile in Mexico in 1939. There she began to do theater and trained as an actress until 1945, the year that marked his return to Spain and the beginning of an extensive career in theater, television (History of frivolity, Stories to keep you awake, Study 1) and cinema.
He debuted in 1949 and made more than sixty films, working with directors such as Luis Buñuel, Juan Antonio de Armiñán, José María Forqué, José Luis García Berlanga, Juan Antonio Bardem. The cinema exploited his faces, sculpted by the passage of time and memories, and above all his rough and grave voice, which was his hallmark and his uniqueness, although his talent should not be overlooked. With Furtivos she touched the sky and received praise and awards, including the Medal of the Circle of Cinematographic Writers for Best Leading Actress and the Fotogramas de Plata for Best Actress in Spanish Film.
Alicia Sánchez and Ovidi Montllor in a scene from the film ‘Furtivos’ by José Luis Borau
A harsh winter in the forest
Except for a part filmed in Madrid, almost the entire film was recorded in natural spaces as beautiful as Montejo and Montejo de la Sierra, and in Rebollo, Segovia. Alicia Sánchez, who was 24 years old at the time, has always fondly remembered that filming, despite the winter cold – before Christmas – that occurred during the recordings. She trained in the theater as a stage director and acting teacher and came to the film animated by Gutiérrez Aragón.
The success of Stealths made Alicia Sánchez make the leap to cinema and has an interesting career, which includes five forksby Fernando Fernán Gómez; sweet hoursby Carlos Saura; Mikel’s death by Imanol Uribe; The joyful lifeby Fernando Colomo; The animated forest, by José Luis Cuerda, and Barrioby Fernando León de Aranoa, for which she earned a Goya nomination for Best Supporting Actress: the award went to Adriana Ozores for The hour of the brave. Milagros’ boyfriend, “El cuqui”, is played by Felipe Solanobut before that it was offered to motorcyclist Ángel Nieto. Solano had just intervened in the film A touch of distinctionby Melvin Frank, with George Segal and Glenda Jackson, who won the Oscar for Best Actress with her character as Vicky Alessio.
José Luis Borau (in the center with the tray) plays the governor in his film ‘Sneakers’
Push to censorship
The director had already suffered the whims of censorship with his previous film, We have to kill B.and he was not prepared to endure the scissors mutilating his work. His effort to release the film without cuts was rewarded and after a tug of war with the censors an agreement was reached: it could be released if he eliminated a scene in which the headquarters of the civil Government of Segovia could be seen, to prevent the story will splash the governor, a character played, curiously, by Borau himself.
But there was more. From the San Sebastián Film Festival, eager to have the film, they threatened not to accept Spanish films if they did not have Stealths. And that’s how José Luis Borau and his team arrived at the festival and they took the Golden Shell. They also came home with the Perla del Cantábrico Award for the best Spanish-language feature film. “I’m happy for Borau, he has made a film without big names, without embellishments, without excessive budgets. It is a film without stars, but a valid film,” said Lola Gaos.
Gina Lollobrigida presents Borau with the Perla del Cantábrico award for the best Spanish-language film for ‘Furtivos’
A shocking ending
The ending of the film is shocking, but we are not going to tell anything to allow the viewer to enjoy, if you can say that, the entire film. Before the credits roll we see a sequence shot that lasts almost a minute, serene, calm: after the storm come calm, silence, ghosts. Stealths It is a rural drama, framed in a style that is now called folk horror, that explore films like As Bestas, The life that awaits you and included The seventh daybased on the crimes of Puerto Urraco. The first poster for the film said What rots under the silence of a “peaceful” forest?
Author cinema against cheap eroticism
The film premiered on September 8, 1975 at the Amaya cinema in Madrid. and in addition to the Golden Shell of San Sebastián, he achieved recognition at the Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos Awards, the Fotogramas de Plata and the Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival. Furtivos stood out that year within a billboard dominated by the erotic cinema of the time (My wife is very decent as far as possible, the back room and Zorrita Martínez were released that year), but it was not an isolated case of auteur cinema. . In 1975 it was also possible to see long return, by Pedro Lazaga; Bridegrooms of death, by Rafael Gil; the Pim, pam, pum… ¡fuego!, by Pedro Olea.
Stealths enters the RTVE Play catalogue, along with titles such as Hector, by Gracia Querejeta, and classic Hollywood cinema such as Robin y Marian, con Sean Connery y Audrey Hepburn. Besides, Django Unchained.
