‘Asesinato en el Comité Central’ (Vicente Aranda, 1982): el ‘thriller’ político como esperpento1

Abstract

Asesinato en el Comité Central, de Vicente Aranda (1982), es la segunda adaptación cinematográfica (tras Tatuaje, de Bigas Luna, 1976) del personaje literario Pepe Carvalho, creado por Manuel Vázquez Montalbán. Se trata de un thriller político que en su momento no tuvo ni fortuna crítica ni éxito de taquilla y que, en parte, fue repudiado por su propio director. Sin embargo, el tiempo nos permite proceder a una relectura que valore su clara raíz esperpéntica, que considere el texto como síntoma de hartazgo con el género producido por un contexto histórico y cultural muy particular. ‘Murder in the Central Committee’ (Vicente Aranda, 1982): A Grotesque and Absurd Ending for Spanish Political Thriller Murder in the Central Committee (1982) is the second film adaptation of Pepe Carvalho, the famous literary detective created by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (following Tatuaje by Bigas Luna in 1976). The film is a political thriller which was poorly received both by critics and at the box office, and was also partially forsaken by its own director, Vicente Aranda. Nevertheless, the passing of time allows us to revisit the film and evaluate its clearly grotesque and absurd roots, which the text considers to be a symptom of the abundance of thrillers produced during the very specific historic and cultural context of the time.