Ethical Implications of the Inclusion of Terrorism in Días contados, by Imanol Uribe

Abstract

The question of whether to kill or not to kill constitutes the center of the dramatic film Días contados, directed by Imanol Uribe. In this adaptation of the novel by the same name by the novelist Juan Madrid, the director transformed the photographer of the literary work into a terrorist, although he was able to exploit, as a critical referent to his conduct, the outlines of marginalized existences in the degraded Madrid of the first half of the 1990s. At the mercy of a conflict that transcends the personal, the protagonist, in his relationship with a young prostitute, exhibits moral contradictions that arise from his membership in ETA. By way of techniques such as ironic heroification or humanization, tensions are generated which will lead him to a dilemma whose resolution provides the basis for a judgment about terror. Victimization, sacrifice, and redemption also play a role in this film in which, in spite of appearances and the majority academic opinion, the subject of terrorism plays a role at the forefront of the story and which must be considered in order to comprehend the individual tragedies.