Original subtitles

LAND WITHOUT BREAD

This film was shot in 1932...

...soon after the founding of the Spanish Republic.

The region we are going to visit is called Las Hurdes.

It's barren and inhospitable and man is forced to fight for subsistence.

The first road to las Hurdes was built only in 1922.

Before that, it was unknown to the rest of the world and even in Spain.

On the way to Las Hurdes, we pass La Alberca.

It's a bit more prosperous, but still feudal.

Almost all the inhabitants of Las Hurdes are in debt to this town.

The church at La Alberca.

Two skulls in their niches symbolise the town's destiny.

Most homes have three storeys.

This is rare in Spain and gives the streets a medieval aspect.

Many homes have a religious text over the door:

"Ave Maria, conceived without sin."

The day we arrived, the women were dressed in their finery.

Why were they dressed so beautifully?

They said they were going to the plaza...

...for an annual ceremony that's strange and barbaric.

Newly wedded men gather.

Each must take up the head of a rooster.

A rope extends across the street.

On it hangs a rooster tied by the legs.

The men gallop by and try to catch a head.

After parading in triumph with the heads...

...the grooms offer everyone wine.

It's a time for enjoyment.

In the crowd, a baby adorned with silver medals.

They are like amulets from Africa or Oceania.

By 7 pm...

...almost everyone is drunk.

3 kilometers away, from a hill top...

...we look down on the 52 villages of Las Hurdes.

They have a total population of ten thousand.

Down steep slopes to the valley of the Batuecas...

...inhabited by a solitary monk and his maid.

For centuries this has been home to monks of the Carmelite order.

They preached Christianity in the villages of Las Hurdes.

Batuecas has a rich prehistory.

Skilful cave paintings...

...representing men, goats and bees.

Toads, snakes and lizards...

...are now the only inhabitants of these ruins.

Rich vegetation...

...with more than 200 species of trees.

Yet 5 kilometres from this fertile valley...

...there are almost no trees. Just a few fruit trees, rockroses and heather.

The convent is surrounded by an 8 kilometer wall.

It protects from attacks by wolves and wild boar.

Inside...

...are the scattered ruins of 18 hermitages.

Each is marked by a cypress or two.

Beyond here...

.. lies Las Hurdes proper.

We are entering the barren lands of Las Hurdes.

The village of Aceitunilla is in one of the poorest valleys.

The white building is the school, built recently.

On its sloping streets we encounter daily life.

Strange, but we never heard anyone singing in Las Hurdes.

A miserable rivulet...

...runs through the village down from the hills.

In summer, water in scarce.

The villagers are obliged to use this filthy water.

Strange things go on here.

The rivulet serves many purposes.

Three children eat a slice of bread dipped in water.

Until recently bread was almost unheard of here.

It was given them by their teacher...

...who makes the children eat in his presence...

...fearing their parents will take it from them if they take it home.

The children are summoned to school.

These ragged, barefoot urchins receive the same education...

...as children the world over.

Clothing is brought back by Hurdanos who leave...

...each summer for Castilla and Andalusia.

They go there mainly to beg.

When they return, they exchange clothing for potatoes.

These hungry children...

...are learning algebra.

In some villages of Las Hurdes most of the children are orphans.

They are abandoned children whom the women of Las Hurdes...

...bring back from Public Assistance in Cuidad Rodrigo...

...a two-day walk away across the hills.

The women raise the children in exchange for 15 pesetas a month.

This miserable sum is enough for an entire family...

.. until the not-so-distant day when the practice is outlawed.

An unexpected and shocking picture we saw in the school.

Who could have made this absurd engraving?

We opened at random a book of maxims we found on a table.

One of the best students writes on a slate...

...one of the book's maxims.

It's the same the world over: "Respect other people's property!"

In this relatively fertile valley...

...there are some walnut, cherry and olive trees.

This is the village of Martilandran.

The shapes between the trees, resembling the shell of some mythical animal...

...are just the roof tiles of the village.

Entering the village, we are greeted by a chorus of coughing.

Most of the villagers are ill.

It's a scene of devastating misery.

The principle disease here is goitre.

Look at this woman with her goitre:

She's only 32 years old.

We visit the village in the company of the mayor.

On an empty street we see a girl.

We ask the mayor what's wrong with her.

He tells us the girl's been there 3 days without moving.

She must be sick.

One of us goes up to her...

...to find out what's wrong with her throat.

He asks her to open her mouth.

Her gums and throat are inflamed.

Sadly there's nothing we can do for her.

Two days later we returned to the village.

We asked after the girl and were told she had died.

What do the people of this sterile land eat?

Almost the only food here is...

...potatoes and beans, and then not always.

Especially in June and July...

...there's not enough food.

The only meat is pork.

But only the wealthier families have a pig.

Once a year a pig is slaughtered. The meat lasts three days.

Olive trees grow in more fertile spots.

But the olives are usually eaten by insects.

The best animal for such infertile land is the goat.

Its milk is reserved for the gravely ill, who mop it up with bread...

...brought from afar by the beggars, and given only to the sick.

Goat meat is only eaten when a goat dies.

This happens from time to time on the steep slopes.

The main industry in Las Hurdes is apiculture.

But most of the hives don't belong to the Hurdanos.

And the honey the bees get from heather is very bitter.

The owners of the hives are from La Alberca.

They only let the Hurdanos have the hives in winter.

It's milder here than in the neighbouring province of Salamanca.

In spring they take the hives to Castilla.

Then, it's common to see pack animals laden with hives...

...heading for Castilla.

One day, we came across a donkey laden with hives.

Two Hurdanos are taking it to Salamanca.

Later, while we were eating, we were asked for help.

The donkey was tied up and one of the hives had fallen.

It was being attacked by bees.

It tried to defend itself...

...but more hives had fallen.

And swarms of bees had descended on it.

An hour later it was dead. A month before our arrival...

... three men and eleven donkeys had died the same way.

May and June are the hardest months in Las Hurdes.

The potatoes have run out.

The villagers eat unripe cherries.

lt gives them dysentery.

This is when the exodus begins.

All the able-bodied men who don't have a fever...

...head for Castilla or Extremadura to find work in the fields.

We came across several of these caravans: of 10, 30, 50 men.

They were carrying only a blanket.

They have neither money nor bread and they are going on foot to find work.

We came upon another group several days later.

They were returning as they'd come, without money or bread.

How do the Hurdanos prepare the land to grow their crops?

First they choose a spot close to the riverbank.

Then they cut down the rockrose and heather.

Their tools are rudimentary: pickaxe and shovel.

These are the only tools they have.

The plough is almost unknown.

Once the plot has been cleared...

...they put up stone walls, without mortar.

The wall will protect the plot from winter floods.

One the wall is up, they have to look for...

...fertile soil in the hills.

They put it in sacks and carry them through the brambles to their plots.

This usually takes several weeks.

A thin layer of fertile soil now covers the plots.

The first year sees an abundant harvest, but then the soil is exhausted.

There's no nitrogen and it turns sterile.

All the plots in Las Hurdes are thin bands...

...beside a river.

Winter storms can destroy the work of a whole year.

A characteristic winding river in Las Hurdes...

...with tiny plots beside it.

With no money or domestic animals...

....the Hurdanos have no fertiliser.

They have to go up into the hills to look for it.

That's what this family is doing.

The way is hard and footwear is scarce.

The best fertiliser is made by the Hurdanos themselves...

...from the dry leaves of the strawberry tree.

They fill their sacks with the precious leaves.

But there are many snakes hereabouts.

This villager was bitten a few days ago...

...while collecting leaves.

The bite itself is hardly ever mortal.

But, by trying to cure themselves, the Hurdanos sometimes die.

Having collected their leaves the villagers return home.

They spread out the contents of their sacks indoors.

People and animals alike sleep on the leaves.

The leaves gradually decompose. And, several months later:

...they can be used as fertiliser.

A house in Fragosa.

A bed of leaves extends from the doorway.

Every home in Las Hurdes is like this.

A typical interior.

The utensils are primitive and few.

The smoke escapes where it can. There's no chimney or windows.

In summer the water courses run almost dry.

This leads to malaria brought by anophelese mosquitos.

Almost everyone in Las Hurdes has malaria.

A battle against the disease is being fought...

...by doctors in the three "Trading Posts" of Las Hurdes.

The larvae have to rise to the surface to breathe.

If it stays parallel to the surface it's anophelese.

If it stays perpendicular, it's a culex larva: and harmless.

The adult anophelese is found in every home.

See how it rests perpendicular to the wall.

The outcome of an anophelese bite.

This man has a fever.

We encounter many sick people in the streets.

This sick woman on a balcony is unaware of our presence.

Balconies are rare...

...in Las Hurdes.

There are many dwarfs and cretins in Las Altas Hurdes.

Their families usually employ them as goat herds.

Some are dangerous.

They flee from other people or attack them with stones.

They are found at nightfall in the hills...

...as they return to their village.

We found it very hard to film them.

The realism of a painting by Zurbaran or Ribera...

...is nothing to reality itself.

The degenaration of these people is caused mainly by hunger...

...lack of hygiene, poverty and incest.

The shortest person here is 28 years old.

An older cretin.

We were only able to film these virtual savages with the help...

...of a friend from Las Hurdes, who acted as intermediary.

One day we saw a group of people in front of a doorway.

A child has just died.

The mother.

A death is one of the rare events in these miserable villages.

The women gather at the house of the deceased.

It's hard to transport a corpse.

Most villages don't have a cemetery.

They have to take this child to the cemetery in Nunomoral.

We decided to follow.

The body was placed on a trough...

...and carried for several miles through the thickets.

If the dead person is an adult...

...the body is tied to a ladder and carried to the cemetery.

It's a journey that can take hours.

Crossing a river with a corpse.

Despite the misery in which the Hurdanos live...

...their moral and religious sense is the same...

... as anywhere else in the world.

Each grave is indicated by a cross.

Or by a piece of wood.

The only luxuries in Las Hurdes are the churches.

This is in one of the poorest villages.

A better-off home.

Father, son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.

The paper cut-outs on the wall...

...add a touch of interior design.

In some villages, a woman roams the streets at night.

She announces deaths.

She rings a bell and stops to pray.

Everyone lives in a single room.

But this home is a little more comfortable.

There's a stable on the ground floor...

...and upstairs a kitchen and living space.

There's even a bed.

In winter, the Hurdanos sleep fully clothed.

The wear their clothes until they wear out.

This woman says:

"Nothing keeps one awake more than thoughts of death...

"Or reciting an Ave Maria for someone's soul."

We left after two months in Las Hurdes.

The misery shown in this film is not without remedy.

Elsewhere in Spain, hill people, peasants and workers have achieved better conditions through mutual self-help.

They have made demands of the authorities for a better life.

...will give impetus to the coming elections and lead to a Popular Front government.

The military rebellion backed by Hitler and Mussolini seeks to bring back the privileges of the rich.

But the workers and peasants of Spain will defeat Franco and his cronies. With the help of anti-fascists from all over the world...

...civil war will give way to peace, work and happiness.

And the miserable homes you saw in this film will disappear for ever.