Brother Against Brother: The Spanish Civil War

The big problem with this documentary is it uses perhaps a dozen different names for the various parties in the conflict. I rarely could figure out for sure if the party being discussed was fighting for or against Franco. It helps to keep in mind that Franco and the Fascists organised an insurrection against the Spanish government, and that Germany/Hitler and Italy/Mussolini supported Franco. The government forces are sometimes known as the Republicans, and Franco's forces as the Nationalists. To add to the confusion sometimes factions, supposedly on the same side, fought each other.

The film is created with old black and white footage taken during the war, and with interviews with people who survived the conflict.

The narrator is highly partisan and describes the suffering of women and children in highly emotional language. He also describes Franco's deeds with the sort of horror and propagandistic fervour we usually reserve for Hitler's.

We don't get to hear from anyone fighting for Franco to hear why they did that or how they justified it, or even to see their indifference.

Sadly, the bad guys win. Franco's regime is not deposed until his death in 1975. Then his dictatorship finally fell, because it depended so much on Franco.