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‘The Night of the Sunflowers’ (2006) is an ambitious debut feature from Spanish writer-director Jorge Sanchez-Cabezudo. Following six episodic storylines it focuses on a dying rural Spanish community; one which is desperately eager to place its name on the map once again, which becomes caught up in the middle of a chilling murder investigation. Both shocking and disturbing, ‘The Night of the Sunflowers’ is a complex film where male brutality and corruption take centre stage as a series of connecting events develop into a whirlwind of deceit, rape and murder. With its male dominated cast, ‘The Night of the Sunflowers’ is a study of male frustration and aggression set against a dusty rural backdrop which seems completely cut off from the rest of the nation. As both the locals and police force struggle to cope with the atrocities, the image and representation of the male psyche takes a battering as director Sanchez-Cabezudo highlights the violence and imperfections lurking beneath the surface of a male dominated community struggling to exist.
In recent years Spanish cinema has had a run of films portraying male brutality on screen. Koldo Serra’s ‘The Backwoods’ (Bosque de Sombras, 2007), included violent attacks and, just like ‘The Night of the Sunflowers’, a very brutal rape scene. However, over the years how has the image of male brutality developed on screen? Has it developed? Or has it remained a consistent representation where acts of violence and deception remain a common form of expression?
Throughout cinema history many disturbed male characters have emerged on the big screen: Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro in ‘Raging Bull’ 1980); Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper in ‘Blue Velvet’ 1986); Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes in ‘Schindler’s List’ 1993); and Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis in ‘There Will Be Blood’ 2007). All these and many more have come to symbolise and encapsulate cruelty and brutality on screen. Throughout these portrayals audiences have been witness to extreme violence as the troubled characters have all deemed to have ‘lost control’ almost appearing psychotic. As these famous performances have all come within the last thirty or so years, does that mean prior to this period male aggression did not exist on screen? Certainly not. Although it wasn’t until the start of the 1960s that Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins in ‘Psycho’ 1960) provided a human face to acts of rage on screen, you can date all the way back to the silent era to view male cruelty in films. Perhaps these silent films’ only difference was the actual amount of violence witnessed, as silent cinema at the time was unable to depict such graphic images on screen. But as technology advanced so did the violence. Sound and colour made everything more realistic, and with further insight into the psychological state of an individual’s mind directors and character-actors could research roles and enhance portraits of abusive and disturbed personalities ranging from Peter Lorre’s Hans Beckert in ‘M’ (1931) right through to Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991).
In ‘The Night of the Sunflowers,’ male representation comes in the form of a salesman who also happens to rape and murder women; a bitter old man at war with the world and everyone around him and a corrupt policeman who is cheating on his wife. Clearly these are three individuals who give fellow males a bad name. On the surface they seem respectable citizens; the salesman appears calm and subdued; the old man content with his retirement; and the policeman you would simply associate with being honest and upstanding, but as the film progresses so do the characters, becoming ever more complex as their respective states of mind are exposed in the most shocking of ways. Due to the deteriorating environment these characters operate in, this certainly contributes to their poor psychological state. As a town facing extinction, it is as if the male contingent is forced to rely on natural instincts of survival which brings about their violent and corrupt ways. In stirring up a fascinating insight into the male psyche on the verge of destruction, Sanchez-Cabezudo declares that underneath the surface, all is not what it seems.
‘The Night of the Sunflowers’ begins with vacuum salesman Vendedor, (Manuel Moron) travelling through the rural landscape. On first appearance he seems somewhat respectable: a quiet man, shirt and tie et al but, just like Norman Bates in ‘Psycho,’ he possesses a disturbed and ruthless side to his personality by attempting to rape and murder women. The fact that he commits these terrible crimes still in his work clothes physically highlights the thin line separating madness and sanity. Unlike Norman Bates, whose psychical appearance changes when he dresses up as his mother, Vendedor is a character who gives off the impression that butchering women is just an activity to do in between work; something to pass the time on his lunch break perhaps. This unstable frame of mind is emphasised further when we see him on the phone talking to a loved one. His calm and composed manner suggests someone who is psychologically damaged and a huge danger to society.
Vendedor’s horrific crimes lead us to the aging Cecilio (Cesareo Estebanez), a farmer who is clinging on to whatever his younger life gave him. Unfortunately, Cecilio is mistaken for Vendedor as they are both wearing similar shirts and is attacked and eventually killed by the victims’ vengeful partner. Although completely innocent of the crimes he has mistakenly been killed for, Sanchez-Cabezudo presents Cecilio as a character who suggests he had it coming; a bitter old man who lives alone and refuses help from anyone who dares ask. This portrait conveys all the elements of someone who feels life has given them a rough ride. This is emphasised beautifully in films’ cinematography as the vast landscapes suggest an unforgiving environment where the dusty roads lead to abandoned houses which time seems to have forgotten. This is a harsh world where its remaining inhabitants are struggling to survive, and it seems that a man like Cecilio despite his up-and-coming fate refuses stubbornly to give in.
The key male figure in ‘The Night of the Sunflowers’, however, is policeman Tomas (Vicente Romero). As an authority figure with a steady job and a wife and a child on the way, Tomas without doubt seems to be a decent person. However, with the previous list of unstable males presented before him, it is only expected that he turns out to be the worst of the lot. By being unfaithful to his wife Tomas has straight away joined the ranks of cinematic men who are morally weak and unable to contain themselves. The fact that his father-in-law also happens to be the chief police inspector (the person heading up the entire murder investigation) is an even more traitorous flaw to his character. Despite this Tomas continues to lie and play away, even returning to his lover after briefly putting a stop to the affair. As if he couldn’t get any worse, Tomas manages to reveal he is in fact too a corrupt policeman. In arriving first at the scene of the crime involving the death of Cecilio, Tomas discusses the option of covering up the murder. The three involved, like the audience, are shocked to hair such a suggestion from a policeman claiming: ‘it is only now that we feel like murders.’ This form of corruption in such an isolated environment almost presents ‘The Night of the Sunflowers’ with the familiar unpleasantness and ruthlessness of a Western. This small Spanish rural town run by corrupt officials who issue their own laws, is not too dissimilar to that of the one-horse towns which appear in many of the genres most classic films (think Henry Fonda’s evil tycoon in ‘Once Upon A Time in the West’ 1968). Tomas could easily be a sinister sheriff type figure who dictates to his citizens in the most immoral of ways, each time spinning himself further and further into a web of sleaze and deception brought on by greed and selfishness.
This web like build-up of deceit and murder runs throughout ‘The Night of the Sunflowers’ in a very honest and personal manner. Covering rape, murder and corruption, director Sanchez-Cabezudo does not hold back when portraying desperate men operating in such a ruthless, almost forgotten world. ‘The Night of the Sunflowers’ is certainly a film which digs deep into the image of the male psyche and uncovers the turmoil and desperation which operates just beneath the surface, exposing them to be cruel, misguided individuals. The only ray of light comes in the form of the chief police officer who unfortunately, on discovering the deception surrounding the case, decides to keep quiet and orders the persons involved to stay away for the good of the town and its name. You could say his intentions are correct, but it’s clear that in this world only lies and deception remain the primary means of progression, and more importantly survival.
Country: Spain
Budget: £
Length: 119mins
Filmography:
'The Silence of the Lambs’, 1991, Jonathan Demme, Orion Pictures Corporation
‘M’, 1931, Fritz Lang, Nero-Film AG
‘Psycho’, 1960, Alfred Hitchcock, Shamley Productions
'There Will Be Blood’, 2007, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ghoulardi Film Company
‘Schindler’s List’, 1993, Steven Spielberg, Universal Pictures
‘Blue Velvet’, 1986, David Lynch, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)
‘Raging Bull’, 1980, Martin Scorsese, United Artists
‘The Backwoods (Bosque de Sombras)', 2007, Koldo Serra, Divine Productions
Pub/2008
More like this:
The Long Goodbye, 1973, directed by Robert Altman
The Crying Game, 1992, directed by Neil Jordan
Taxi Driver, 1976, directed by Martin Scorsese