‘The Harvester’ Star Antonio de la Torre: ‘Violence Has No Justification, but It Does Have an Explanation’

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain – “Violence has no justification, but it does have an explanation.” That was Antonio de la Torre’s approach to playing 19th-century murderer Juan Díaz de Garayo in David Pérez Sañudo’s “The Harvester,” which world premiered at San Sebastián, sold by Latido Films. Yet the filmmaker was equally clear at the San Sebastián […] A San Sebstián world premiere, 'The Harvester' weighs in as one of the biggest Basque films ever made. Patricia López Arnaiz says her character shifts “The Harvester” away from serial-killer mythology and toward the women and society around him. SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain – “Violence has no justification, but it does have an explanation.” That was Antonio de la Torre’s approach to playing 19th-century murderer Juan Díaz de Garayo in David Pérez Sañudo’s “The Harvester,” which world premiered at San Sebastián, sold by Latido Films.

Yet the filmmaker was equally clear at the San Sebastián Film Festival that he had little interest in making the killer the center of the story. Pérez Sañudo said the filmmakers did not want to feed a myth they did not believe in, explaining that the production wrestled with how to portray Garayo, known as Sacamantecas, without turning violence