INDEX
A Single Track: The 1974 Spanish Pop Song
Only one pop song is used in the film. This probably does not mean that Bellocchio is giving pop songs the cold shoulder because of his own taste, but rather, the fact that only one song is chosen in this long drama suggests his intention to put the spotlight on the song itself (and the sequence in which it is played). The scene is the one at the end of the first act.
The scene comes at the end of the first act. The Red Brigade sympathizers’ jubilation at the news of Moro’s abduction, the children leaving school with their parents amidst sirens, Minister of the Interior Cossiga’s surprise and anguish, Eleonora’s anxious look at the helicopters gathering over the crime scene…and then, the scene of the “Red Brigade” in the middle of the first act, In a slow, rhythmic montage of Moro’s expression as he is being carried to the Red Brigades’ hideout in a small wooden box, the Spanish pop singer Janet sings her hit song “Porque te vas” (1974), somewhat out of place, while a slow, rhythmic montage of the Red Brigades’ faces is played. (1974), a hit song sung by Spanish pop singer Janet.
“Porque te vas” may be reasonably recognizable to Europop aficionados, but for moviegoers, it is first and foremost a song that was memorably used in Carlos Saura’s “The Crow’s Breeding” (1976 The song should be familiar to moviegoers first and foremost because of its striking use in Carlos Saura’s “The Crow’s Breeding” (1976). The song was hardly talked about immediately after its release in 1974, and of course it was not widely known outside of Spain. However, when Saura used it in his masterpiece “The Crow’s Breeding,” the song became instantly popular and was a hit in many parts of Europe. For European audiences, this song is deeply connected to their collective memory of the mid to late 1970s.
In “The Raven’s Breed,” the song appears several times as the favorite song of the main character, Ana, a young girl who has lost her parents and lives with her aunt. The song is used in an excellent dramatic way, overlapping with the psychological portrayal of Ana and the other characters.
The song is also often associated with Spain’s domestic politics of the time: in the mid-1970s, the country was in the thawing period of transition to a democratic regime after the collapse of Franco’s dictatorship following the civil war and his death. This song reflects the parting from the past and the Spanish society that was shaken by hope and anxiety in such a time of change.
In this light, the somewhat abrupt use of “Porque te vas” in the film ‘Exterior Night’ can be considered to have both contemporaneous and critical connotations. When “Porque te vas” is played over a montage that traverses various people’s points of view, with its sad colors and yet somehow dignified purity, we are reminded of the deep melancholy and sense of crisis that was stirring in the “lead age,” as well as of the future that political youths were blindly pursuing. When the song “Porque te vas” is played, we witness the deep melancholy and sense of crisis that was stirring in the “lead age” and the light of the future that these political youths were blindly pursuing.
