It's been a good week for Basque directors Jon Garano and Aitor Arregui, who, along with José Mari Goinaga, premiered “Marco” in Venice and earned a place on Spain's shortlist for an Oscar.
Sold by Film Factory Entertainment and set to open in Toronto and be screened in San Sebastian, London and Vancouver, “Marco” has been a huge success. Based on true events, the film is about Enrique Marco, a con man who gained sympathy, fame and respect by falsely claiming to be a concentration camp survivor while serving as president of Spain’s leading association of deportees. His story was a lie.
The filmmakers initially intended to document Marco’s downfall, but like everything he touched, the truth slipped through their fingers. He told them he was going to Germany to get papers from a prison he had been in. The filmmakers wanted to accompany Marco and capture key footage. “He said ‘no,’ because it was too personal for him and too intimate,” recalls John Garano. “We understood. But when he came back, it became clear that he had gone with other filmmakers who were making a film. That was a shock to us.” He was playing along.
Marco’s lie was exposed in 2005 by historian Benito Bermejo, but the void he left—not fully explaining himself, not fully apologizing—became fertile ground for a story that refuses to be simple. “It took us a long time to realize that maybe the best option would have been to make a fiction film,” says Garano. “The film is about how reality and fiction can be represented, and how everything can be mixed up. This idea of truth is in danger because people can mix things up and make you believe something that’s not really true.”
Blending fact and fiction, interspersed with documentary footage, the film captures the mood of the time. The lead role is a difficult talent for the distinguished actor Edward Fernandez (Smoke & Mirrors, While at War, Smoking Room), who embodies the essence of a man with mysterious motivations and conjures up a charismatic character, driven by a morbid need for attention.
“The real Marco was a very mysterious character. He was very seductive and a great storyteller, but at the same time, it was strange to talk to him because you knew he had lied about such an important issue. Edward Fernandez managed to embody the character not only by imitating him but also by creating our own version. That was very important because we are telling our story about Marco,” says Arrighi.
The directors embody the process of constructing a lie in their cinematic approach: “We mix different formulas to remind the audience that they are watching a film, or a construction. This manipulation is present in every film, whether it is a documentary or a feature film, and we wanted to play with this idea explicitly,” explains Garano.
The ambiguity surrounding his true motives leaves room for the question: “Why do we lie?” “Marco often defends himself by saying: ‘I am a liar, but who doesn’t?’ And he’s right to a certain extent. Everyone is trying to sell the best version of themselves, and filmmaking is also a kind of manipulation. We wanted to show that, by mixing different forms and blurring the lines between fiction and documentary,” says Garano.
After previous hits like Giant, Flowers and The Endless Trench, the trio has mastered a collaborative style that ironically relies on mutual trust. “We have a strange way of working that allows us to take turns and support each other,” says Arrighi. “Being three directors means we can keep going even when one of us is tired. It’s not without its challenges—we argue and argue a lot—but it also means that there’s always someone willing to take the lead when needed.”
The film is produced by Spanish company Irusoin, Moriarti Produkzioak, Atresmedia Cine, and La Verdad Inventada AIE.
