Triunfalismo nacional y mística guerrera en ¡Harka! y ¡A mí la Legión!

¡Harka! (1941) and ¡A mí la Legión! (1942), belonging to the so-called ''crusade cinema,'' are two less well-known films, whose main ideological interest lies in the illustration of the importance of Morocco and the Spanish Legion in the collective imaginary of the Nationalist (i.e. right-wing) Army, on the one side, and, on the other, in the crystallization of an exalted militarist rhetoric, which coalesced various ideologies within the Nationalist side during the Civil War and in its immediate aftermath. The persuasive power of the militarist discourse relies on melodrama, which is meant to embellish the glorified war values through an almost mystical aura. Their powerful appeal to emotions, predominantly through a gestural language, makes them seem good examples of melodrama. The dramatic and persuasive effect of these two films is, none the less, repeatedly halted by moments of explanatory verbosity and by abrupt narrative connections between the scenes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]