A politics of listening in Isabel Coixet’s Escuchando al juez Garzón (2011)

Abstract

Abstract The coincidence of Baltasar Garzón’s recent trial, which evaluated the legality of certain investigations he conducted as Audiencia Nacional judge, and the bicentennial of La Pepa, Spain’s first though brief experiment in democratic constitutionalism, invite reflection on the state of democracy in Spain. This article on Catalonian director Isabel Coixet’s documentary primarily explores the practice of listening in the filmed interview of Garzón, Escuchando al juez Garzón (Coixet, 2011), and the relationship between listening and democracy that comes to light within the context of the commemoration of La Pepa concurrent to the trials that suspended Garzón from the bench for eleven years. This piece begins by drawing from the work of documentary scholar Bill Nichols and political scientist Susan Bickford, respectively, for its analysis of the voice of the documentary and the practice and promotion of democratic listening.