Abstract
Pedro Almodóvar’s Madres paralelas (2021) is arguably his most politically engaged work yet, with the protagonist Janis (Penélope Cruz) leading a project to exhume a Civil War mass grave. This essay begins by exploring previous engagement by Almodóvar with memorialization practices, including the short film Cultura contra la impunidad (2010). The analysis of Madres paralelas tackles the privileging of memory work and familial inheritances, with attention to the role of photography and the final scenes at the exhumed graveside. Ultimately, Almodóvar’s film, diegetically and as material object, intervenes in the current ‘memory economy’ as an act of justice.
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