If you lived in the 90s, you remember the years of collective craze for Arny case, a trial on prostitution of minors in a pub in Seville that became media by putting celebrities like Jorge Cadaval, Jesús Vázquez, Javier Gurruchaga or the brother of María del Monte in the middle.
27 years later, and despite the fact (or precisely because) there are those who continue with the conspiracy theory, the case deserved the retrospective that HBO Max has granted it in ‘Arny, story of infamy’ making it clear that this was the last witch hunt that a small group of people could legally undertake against the gay community. The result is a bit repetitive in terms of assembly, but chilling plot.
The nineties, what nostalgia
Although in December 1978 the law of vagrants and thugs left homosexuality free of crime in Spain, social morality took decades to change. Without going any further, ten years later, a survey asked “Are you in favor of killing pharmacists and homosexuals?”, only to check the reaction of citizens when asking “Why pharmacists?”
It is not surprising that in 1995, where the quintessential gay television stereotype was that of the mannered comedian or that of the gossip without mincing words and we were still light years away from the society that, luckily and without being perfect, we now have, the Arny case brought out the animal that many repressed inside. Watching the news clips that ‘Arny, Story of an Infamy’ offers (and in which several people threaten to kill any homosexual) It seems that it did not happen 27 years ago, but in prehistoric times.
Looking to the past helps us understand the presentThere is no doubt, but at a time of moral and mental regression on the part of the population it is almost, if possible, necessary. The Arny case was the latest backwards and desperate attempt to re-criminalize homosexuality (at least in people’s heads). To unite the LGTB collective eternally with sordidness, darkness and evil. It was a full-blown orchestrated hit that, luckily, didn’t go well… but claimed victims along the way.
The Pelican’s Smile
‘Arny, history of an infamy’ is structured around four key points: the first and essential, criticism of the tabloid media, rats fighting over a piece of churro. From ‘The Pelican’s Smile’ to ‘Martian Chronicles’, the witnesses in the case said anything in exchange for money. Literally whatever. It is the wonderful criticism of the media behind the scenes that ‘El backpacker with the ax’ could but did not want to be, in addition to a successful portrait of the present: Or is it that someone believes that they are willing to end their reign of the most excessive and absurd sensationalism?
The second key point is the social, in the 90s that were far from the freedom that many believe to remember. The portrait of a society that not only did not consider specific rights, but also did not hesitate to judicially and socially destroy the careers of artists, politicians and singers due to baseless accusations… Even after being denied by witnesses! The damage that was done to them supported by a social redoubt that would now be minimal (although very vociferous on the Internet), it’s overwhelming. Lions catching a bunny and not stopping until licking the last of its bones.
The third key point is represented in a person: Jesús Vázquez. The presenter opens up fully for the cameras with honesty, dominating his own narrative and telling, for the first time, his truth as broadly as he wants and can. The tears of impotence, the eternal friendship with Jorge Cadaval, the death of his mother, the canceled gigs, the surreal mix between street support and media judgment… See him finally taking a revenge that has been maturing inside him for almost thirty years, expressed with a fierceness that points to all those who made him live the worst moments of his life. Just for this testimony, ‘Arny, story of an infamy’ would already be mandatory. But there is more.
loads of corruption
The fourth and last point is also the most heartbreaking: acknowledging the shadow powers that almost got away with itwho despite being pointed out and continue to exercise despite setting up one of the biggest legal scandals in the history of Spain. They were the ones who tried to condemn Manuel Rico Larathe juvenile judge who most obviously showed that he had absolutely nothing to do with the case in question and from whom there are only words of affection throughout the documentary.
The problem with dividing the story of the Arny case into three episodes is that HBO Max ignores binge-watching and repeats the same images over and over again throughout the chapters, leaving the feeling that perhaps it would have been more impressive as a movie cutting repetitions here and there. In addition, the documentary does not have -although it tries- interviews with the other side: neither the investigating judge Auxiliadora Echávarri, nor the television presenters of the time, lend their voices, although given the passage of time, they can excuse little.
‘Arny, story of a lie’ nothing counts that we do not knowbut it does do so in a way that is as exhaustive as it is narratively fluid, managing to remind us that no matter how much we repeat to ourselves that all past times were better, reality is always there to contradict us. Creepy, overwhelming and necessary.