Demons in the Garden

The narrative spans the years of the Spanish Civil War, when Franco's army expanded and the country was torn by factional violence. It follows a conservative, bourgeois family through the war, its black-market economy, and the precarious post-war period. The time frame emphasizes upheaval, shifting loyalties, and the slow erosion of traditional hierarchies.

The story unfolds in a quiet Spanish village centered on the family-run El Jardín grocery store. The setting blends rural life with the pressures of war and black-market survival. The village acts as a closed arena where family loyalties and betrayals play out, with Madrid appearing as the wider stage of the conflict.

💔 Family Rivalry

The film centers on the brutal competition between Óscar and Juan, showing how sibling loyalties and desires for control spill into the personal lives of Ana and Angela. Gloria uses her authority to shape loyalties and inheritance, exposing the moral corrosion of a bourgeois clan. The conflicts mirror the chaos of war-time Spain, where survival often trumps ethics. The story reveals how love, ambition, and pride drive a family toward betrayal.

🕰️ War and Survival

The Civil War era forces the family to engage in black-market profits and shady deals to endure. The war reshapes loyalties, sending Juan to Madrid to join the Nationalist Army while others cling to the old order. The environment of fear and scarcity intensifies choices, often at the expense of truth and trust. The war becomes the backdrop that legitimizes deception and ruthlessness in everyday life.

🎭 Morality and Hypocrisy

Gloria’s insistence on maintaining appearances leads to selective justice and self-justification. The family’s portrait-day scene encapsulates the collective hypocrisy hiding beneath a refined surface. Theft, seduction, and a fatal shooting reveal how virtue can be instrumentalized when money and status are at stake. The film builds its tragedy from the tension between public duty and private desire.