"Any discussion of the 'Francoist cinema' must begin with Franco's own cinema: the unique case of Race, based on a novel written by one 'Jaime de Andrade,' the psuedonym of the Generalísimo himself. As critic Emilio Sanz de Soto has noted, Race is 'less a film than an X-ray,' a remarkable and at times chilling insight into the fantasy world and personal ideology of Franco. Directed by the cousin of the Spanish Falange's founder, Race is the story of Jose Churruca, played by Forties heart-throb Alfredo Mayo. From the time he is rocked on his father's knee, Churruca hears stories of his ancestors' astounding bravery at Trafalgar and San Juan Hill; he resolves to carry on the family tradition. As Spain edges towards the 'communist abyss,' the voices of his ancestors call to him to save the motherland from certain damnation. Beyond the somewhat obvious politics of the film, Race offers a wishful autobiography of Franco; small and endowed with a high, squeaky voice, Franco was little match for the stout-chested Mayo, nor was his father-a notorious womanizer-in reality anything like the long string of military heroes who populate Churruca's geneaology." -Richard Peña