Urban Heart, Rural Soul: Exploring the Duality of Basqueness through <i>Handia</i> [ <i>The Giant</i> ] (2017)

Drawing on the premise that post-2005 Basque language cinema has often portrayed a clash between rural and urban identities, this article explores that tension through the film analysis of Handia [The Giant] (Aitor Arregi y Jon Garaño 2017). Set in the nineteenth century, the film grapples with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution and the Carlist wars, which brought about the fall of the old regime (tradition) and the rise of Liberalism (progress). These opposing views are embodied by the two protagonist brothers, who come to symbolize the confrontation between the collective stemming from the "we" and the individualism emanating from the "I". In that sense, Handia can be seen as a film that journeys the self, as it navigates the complexities of identity within the Basque context. I argue that collective identity—Basqueness, Basque language, cooperative projects, memory, history—is most associated with the rural world and the baserri (the Basque farmhouse), whereas individual identity—personal freedom, self-focus, openness, progress—is more aligned with urban life. Ultimately, the film spotlights a struggle waged between tradition and modernity that makes up the very duality of Basqueness, while being a haunting allegory of the Basque Country’s historical subalternity.