The Sevillian Melchor Rodríguez was a true anarchist. A humanist with an absolute sense of justice and respect for human life. It was always clear that you can die for ideas, but never kill. Undoubtedly, a rare grandmother in the midst of the fratricidal madness that she had to live through. At the end of 1936, after knowing the prison on more than thirty occasions throughout his life, he was appointed Special Delegate of prisons during the mandate of the anarchist García Oliver at the head of the Ministry of Justice. From his place, he arrested the «sacas» and the «paseos» of the Madrid prisons. Risking his life on numerous occasions to save that of his enemies, facing his own colleagues. Always convinced that the Republic could not be stained with blood: «If they are guilty, the courts will decide. The real revolution does not consist in killing defenseless men.» Despite his humanitarian action, he was tried by the victors and sentenced to twenty years in prison, of which he served five. His burial, in 1972, brought together anarchists and members of the regime in an unprecedented case in Spanish history.
Melchor Rodríguez was not the only anarchist to save lives, many others, swimming against the current, wanted to impose reason where there was only reason, respect for life where death reigned. They do not, however, fit the stereotype of the anarchist with a bomb in his hand. Too often the negative and dark side of the murders and looting is disclosed, and the story of a working-class humanism that fought for a fairer and more humane world is marginalized.
A splendid documentary written and directed by Alfonso Domingo, journalist, writer and documentarian, with more than a hundred works done, about a humanist and libertarian hero: «El ángel rojo». An unknown and exciting page of our history.
In the presentation, in addition to its director, we will have the intervention of the writer Antonina Rodrigo, specialist in the history of the Republic, the Civil War and the Exile.
Ficha técnica
Title: Melchor Rodríguez, el ángel rojo
Screenplay: Alfonso Domingo
Direction: Alfonso Domingo
Production: Paloma Suárez
Image: Óscar Villasante; Pepe Navarro and Javier Alarcón
Sound and mixing: Daniel Rodríguez
Edition: Juan Verdeal
Year: 2016
Duration: 83′