La tragédie des brigades internationales

Through moving archival footage, Patrick Rotman retraces the epic tale of the 35,000 foreign volunteers who came to support the Spanish Republic against Franco, supported by Hitler and Mussolini. Writers, workers, photographers, and intellectuals committed themselves to the people, despite the military imbalance and Franco's terror. But at the heart of the Republican camp, Stalinist influence led to repression and purges, trapping anarchists and brigadists in the crossfire. Between heroism, disillusionment, and tragic fates—like that of Gerda Taro, who died at the age of 27—this documentary pays tribute to a sacrificed generation whose memory still fuels revolutionary romanticism.