‘El 47’ - Barcelona’s hidden story of resilience and community

Filling the Sink

The Catalan capital on the Mediterranean coast has always been a city that attracts immigration, whether people come in search of a better job, a better life, or just an adventure. Barcelona inhabitants - old and new - are also known as people who are always ready to fight for their rights. The latest movie, ‘El 47’, tells one of these stories.

Set in the late 1970s in the marginalized neighborhood of Torre Baró, on the side of the Collserola mountain range that surrounds the Catalan capital, it centers around Manolo Vital, an immigrant from the southern Spanish region of Extremadura, who came to Barcelona in the 1950s to escape Francoist repression.

He and many others bought small plots of land on the outskirts of the city and began building their homes and the neighborhood from the ground up, with little support from local Barcelona authorities.

As a result, the residents lacked basic services such as electricity, running water, paved roads, schools, and buses.

But one day, Manolo Vital took matters into his own hands.

Emma Monrós Rosell joins Lea Beliaeva Bander to talk about the story behind the movie. We also catch up with Marcel Barrena, the director of ‘El 47’, as well as leading actors Eduard Fernández, Zoe Bonafonte, and Carlos Cuevas.

We also visit Torre Baró and hear from José Antonio Martínez and José Antonio Romero, who explain some of the current challenges facing the neighborhood.

The Catalan phrase of the week is “fer més voltes que un rellotge,” similar to the English “to work around the clock”.

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