Groomed for greatness, a writing, philosophizing prodigy by her teens and a young woman nearly 100 years ahead of her time, Hildegart Rodríguez Carballeira was long a forgotten heroine of the Spanish Civil War.
That’s how “history” is erased by the reactionary and the fascist, and their unholy accomplices.
But this revolutionary teen comes back to life in “The Red Virgin,” an ambitious Spanish Civil War era biopic from director Paula Ortiz (“Teresa” was hers).
The film details how Hildegart’s dogmatic, domineering mother Aurora (Najwa Nimri of “Money Heist”) plotted and planned her own immaculate conception, a baby who would be “all mine,” with no father ever entering the picture. Aurora got pregnant by a hand-picked priest, because she knew he would never go public with his paternity.
Aurora voice-over narrates (in Spanish or dubbed into English) the story’s long prologue, how she would create “the woman of the future.” A true believer in eugenics, she “selected” her baby daddy based on intelligence. She would groom a child to become a feminist icon and bring Spain out of the Dark Ages its mostly illiterate female population had been sentenced to.
A woman of means, Aurora tutored young Hildegart personally so that she was speaking by eight months, reading by two and a “certified typist” by four.
The child was in college years early and a lawyer by 17. That’s when Hildegart — played by Alba Planas — set out to make her mark in essays, many of them book-length, about women’s plight, women’s role in society and the traditions, laws and Catholic practices of Spain and elsewhere that enslaved them.
Hildegart arrived as a published author, by coincidence, at the very moment Spain threw off the shackles of its creaky monarchy and the church that ruled through it.
“Spain is not Catholic any more!” read the placards in the streets as Hildegart and her mother make their way through the mobs to and from a publisher (Pepe Viyuela) who has to be browbeaten into accepting that Hildegart writes and thinks for herself.
But is Spain ready for “The Sexual Problem, as Explained by a Spanish Woman?”
Hildegart has been kept from the clutches of boys and men, and Mom’s gynecological lectures insist that they don’t “need” men.” But Hildegart’s publications gain her instant notoriety. “Bruja” (witch) is painted on the walls of their house, along with threats about what Spain has done to witches in the past.
Britain’s famous pioneering sexologist, Havelock Ellis, wants to meet her, as does sci-fi writer, “free love” advocate and proto-feminist H.G. Wells.
A young Spanish socialist (Patrick Criado) is inspired by her writing and begs her to speak at a party gathering. The film’s best scene has young Hildegart lecturing the all-male political party on its role in the continued repression of half the country’s population.
Her all-controlling mother only reluctantly relented to this, as she sees Hildegart as “a scholar, not a politician. We are above provocation.” But Hildegart uses her platform to plead for womens’ suffrage, legal abortion and equal financial rights. Her publisher can’t even write a check for her royalties to her mother because “no bank would cash” a check for a woman.
All of this is little-known history, and Ortiz, working from a script by Eduard Sola and Clara Roquet, does a good job of suggesting the heady days between the Spanish abdication and the Civil War, which began with fascists backed by an embattled, entrenched and reactionary Catholic Church attacking a Republic hastily remaking society and attacking the church as the biggest part of the problem.
Hildegart’s timing seems perfect. You’re remaking your whole society, why not have a neglected half of it represented in the new Spain?
Planas lets us see both manipulated attitudes and the intelligence and spine to state her own mind as Hildegart, a woman who stood up to men before she could stand up to her overbearing mother.
Nimri, a screen veteran whose Spanish cinema credits go back to “Sex and Lucia” and the global hit, “Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos),” is fearsomely callous as mother Aurora, unapologetic in matters of dogma and ruthless in the ways she directs her daughter’s opinions, career and life.
“The Red Virgin” is a smart and timely tragedy, coming out as cultures around the world are either embracing equality or trying to roll back the clock on women’s rights.
Hildegart — her Wikipedia bio is here, but do yourself a favor and don’t read it until you’ve seen the film — makes a fascinating icon-you-never-knew to learn about and a blunt reminder of how long the inevitable march of progress can be delayed by sitting out the fight, or letting your mother decide whether or not you get to join the battle.
Rating: R, violence, sexual situations and discussion
Cast: Najwa Nimri, Alba Planas, Patrick Criado, Pepe Viyuela and
Aixa Villagrán
Credits: Directed by Paula Ortiz, scripted by Eduard Sola and Clara Roquet. An MGM release on Amazon Prime.
Running time: 1:55
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