Requiem for a Spanish Peasant
Requiem for a Spanish Peasant ("Réquiem por un campesino español") is a famous short novel in twentieth-century Spanish literature by Spanish writer Ramón J. Sender. It conveys the thoughts and memories of Mosén Millán, a Catholic parish priest, as he sits in the vestry of a church in a nameless Aragonese village, preparing to conduct a requiem mass to celebrate the life of a young peasant named Paco killed by the Nationalist army a year earlier, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. As he waits, his thoughts are interrupted by the occasional  comings and goings of an altar boy, who hums to himself an anonymous ballad. The novel was originally published under the title "Mosén Millán"; however, the author changed the title to shift the focus from the priest to its peasant protagonist. Plot summary. The story is narrated by a third-person omniscient narrator who has insight into Mosén Millán's thoughts and feelings. Three distinct planes of narration exist in the novel: the present, Millán's recollections of his relationship with Paco from birth to death, and the ballad the altar boy sings which recounts Paco's life. In the  present, Millán, fatigued, prays as he awaits the requiem mass with recollections of Paco's life. As he prays he rests his head against a wall—a habit—which bears a dark spot. The altar boy comes and goes and both remark on the lack of people attending mass. Millán, feeling guilty knowing that he played a role in Paco's death, asks the altar boy to leave the church to look for mass attenders in the town square when the altar boy sings the parts of the ballad that refer to Millán. Film. In 1985, Spanish film director Francesc  Betriu adapted the novel into a film of the same name, starring Antonio Banderas as Paco. The film was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 42nd Venice International Film Festival.