‘Land and Freedom’

As self-contradictory as the concept of a “good war” has to sound, Spain in 1936 comes close to fitting the description. After fascist conservative forces led by Franco rose against an elected leftist government, believers from all over the world, including young novelists Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell, made their way to Spain to fight for democracy and progressive reform. Directed by Brit Ken Loach, this 1995 film is remarkable for its point-blank refusal to shortchange passion and emotion while dramatizing a political situation that its blue-collar Liverpudlian protagonist (Ian Hart, pictured) aptly characterizes as “dead complicated.” It is a Loach epic (Showtime Monday at 10 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 4:15 a.m.).