I cry throughout

I couldn't bring myself to rewatch this movie until now, 10 years after the first time, and only rewatched it in order to complete a Ken Loach marathon. There are many reasons why this movie wrecks me emotionally:

- The very topic of the Spanish civil war and especially the international volunteers
- The personal stories and the deaths in the movie
- The pain of defeat and - one that hits very close to home - the division and hatred between people who are essentially on the same side. Why did the communists have to fight the anarchists? This is the most absurd and painful part to watch. Most members of the communist party were not evil stalinists, they had the same ideals and goals as the anarchists, the fact that they were turned against each-other while the real enemy was winning is completely heartbreaking.

~*~