Rarely is a film made with the train in motion. That is, with the characters alive and the central events still pending judgment. The fact that the protagonists are believable and the film is entertaining, despite knowing their story, is a success. Our Father, the film by Toni Soler and Manuel Huerga, which will be released on April 16, makes us think especially about everything we don't know or that perhaps we won't know for many years, or perhaps we will never know.
To begin with, we will have to see how much of the truth will emerge in the trial scheduled for November of this year. It will be especially entertaining to listen to Jordi Pujol Jr. and his tricks. Also to find out what role a mother played who always confused the country with the property of the family, a country whose plural reality she ignored.
The film is a reconstruction of the days when The World, acting as a transmission belt for the state's sewers, published that the former president's family had money in Andorra and the consequences for the Pujols, Convergència, and public opinion.
In the family catharsis, Jordi Pujol responds with an expiatory confession and explains in a statement that his father left him money in Andorra. Pujol took responsibility for the mess, but he didn't expect the descent into social hell, perhaps only into the hell of remorse.
In a certain world, neglect is understandable, or for some, even justifiable. Pujol is the father of the nation who, due to his dedication to the country, would have neglected the family's material well-being. To protect the future, grandfather Florenci would have left the family in good shape with an account in Andorra. Jordi Pujol was worth it for allowing and protecting his eldest son's corruption, which, by extension, benefited the entire family.
Obviously, at no point does it occur to anyone to regularize the situation. Why? With everything the country owes him? And so the heir leads the business sector, to the discomfort and silence of some. How many suitcases did illustrious figures bring to the party and related companies? How much money was diverted to maintain the heir's lifestyle? How many public transactions were made benefiting companies that wouldn't have won public tenders or that were subsequently redeemed?
The complexity of the Pujol case lies in the many nuances that inform the story of these last few years, but also of an entire life dedicated to politics. President Pujol must be recognized for the work he has done. The credit for having created, for some, and restored, for others, national ambition, for having laid some of the most important foundations for the decentralization of the state, for having been a factor of stability. But, at the same time, the political Pujol is also that of the Maragallian 3% and that of the laziness.
When leaders believe the country owes their sacrifice, the path to decadence begins. When the Mossos d'Esquadra are asked to walk the dog, it ends with an exponential growth in the abuse of power that leads to the manipulation of public contracts and the irregular finances of the party. Some people warned him without success, such as Miquel Roca, Artur Mas, and Joaquim Triadú. Pujol's power was excessive, and today, now that he is a different person, he is able to recognize that his power was excessive.
The Pujol case was the result of Operation Catalunya organized by the State to end the independence process, but the Pujol fortune existed, as did the irregular financing of Convergència and the atmosphere of silence and business dealings between several parties. Perhaps we will never know what the sincere interpretation of the serene Hill of guilt is. The memoirs published to date are missing a key part.
The film Our Father It is also the fruit of the catharsis in Catalonia. Jordi Pujol warned at the time that when the branches of a tree were shaken, more than one nest could fall. That was the case, but it doesn't seem like a film about the monarchy or the Aznar family should be made in Spain. We will continue to observe the media and political campaign for the public reinstatement of the emeritus after the success of the operation to save the monarchy with Felipe VI and the heiress who plays the soldier without having attended university.
Only a few jurists and intellectuals await the development of a complaint against Juan Carlos for five tax offenses allegedly committed when he no longer held the immunity of office.
With the Trial and the Dirty War, some masks have fallen. The question now is whether Spanish society's standards of tolerance for corruption have also changed, or only those of Catalan society.
