Murder in the Central Committee

Murder in the Central Committee Spanish Asesinato en el Comit Central is a 1982 Spanish thriller film directed by Vicente Aranda. It stars Patxi Andin and Victoria Abril. The plot follows a private detective, an excommunist and former CIA agent, who travels from Barcelona to Madrid to discover the identity of the assassin of the leader of the Spanish Communist Party who was stabbed during a blackout while presiding over a meeting of the partys Central Committee. The film is a thriller with ironic political overtones.

During a meeting in Madrid of the Central Committee of Spains Communist Party, there is a brief power outage. The lights are back on a few seconds later, but in that short span of time the Secretary General, Fernando Garrido, is killed, stabbed in the chest. The government asks Fonseca, a rabid anticommunist, to find out who committed this crime. Santos, the interim new leader of the Communist Party, calls in a private investigator, Pepe Carvalho. A witty and cynical hardboiled detective, Carvalho arrives from Barcelona to take on the case. Carmela, a militant communist, is assigned to work as his driver and assistant. Carvalho and Fonseca meet to exchange ideas about the case on which both are working. They utterly dislike each other since in the past, Fonseca persecuted leftists like Carvalho. Their parallel investigations take different routes. Carvalho interviews a former CIA chief who is severely handicapped after losing his arms and legs in Vietnam, but the wheelchairusing old man refuses to cooperate.Those sharing the podium with the slain Garrido could have killed him only by stabbing him in the back so they are discarded as possible suspects. Because the crime took place in a short period of time and in darkness, Carvalhos suspicions quickly narrow to five members of the Communist Party Seplveda, Esparza Julv, Prez Montesa, Leverder and Ordoez. The detective questions them one by one. Ordoez, the eldest among them, is quickly discarded by both Fonseca and Carvalho and so is Leverder. While following Leverder to a public reading, Carvalho is seduced by a journalist. This is actually a trap and Carvalho is drugged and beaten by CIA agents who want to know what he has found out, but Carvalho still has no answers to give them. Released by his captors, Carvalho returns to his hotels room. A central European female agent, working for the KGB, is waiting for him. She is also interested in finding the culprit through Carvalho, who flirts with her. ........

Source: Wikipedia