The Javier Krahe Trial

A busy housewife in the kitchen pulls a Christ from his cross, washes it under running water and puts it in a baking tray, accompanied by potatoes and butter. The voiceover explains that after three days of cooking at moderate temperature, the Christ will walk out of the oven all by himself!

This short film is called “How to Cook a Christ” and is barely a minute long. It was made by singer Javier Krahe in the late 70s, and sprang out of the atmosphere of freedom, rebellion and provocation that followed the end of the Franco dictatorship. Krahe could hardly have imagined that this short was going to cause him problems more than thirty years later!

In 2004 the singer was interviewed by a Canal + program, which screened a few frames of the film during the interview. This outraged some Catholic viewers, particularly those associated with the Thomas More Law Center, which denounced Krahe and the program for “attacking religious sentiment”. This offense is referred to in Article 525 of the Penal Code, and it is an article which had never been applied in the democracy but is still on the books. Five years later, on May 12, 2010, a judge in Madrid ordered a rexamination of the charges, and the trial against Krahe and the producer of the television program opened in court. The Thomas More Law Centre is asking for an incredible sum of 192,000 euros in damages.

The case has raised a firestorm of controversy and brought to the fore the issues of artistic freedom and religious taboos in a supposedly advanced and secular country like Spain.

I´ll with you very soon to report on more cases of exhibitions and works of art that have been considered blasphemous, censored or prosecuted … Meanwhile if you want monitor the Krahe trial, rent apartments in Madrid and attend some of the events organized to support him.

Tags: how to cook a christ, krahe trial, Singer Javier Krahe, The Krahe Trial