Silencio Roto (2001)

Autumn 1944, 21-year-old Lucia returns to the small mountain village where her parents live. The town is split between Franco’s fascist supporters and the Republicans. Lucia falls in love with Manuel, a young blacksmith who supports the Maquis, guerrilla warriors hidden in the mountains, who do not accept Franco’s triumph. Manuel flees the village to join them, and Lucia discovers the harsh reality as silence, horror and fear populate the village’s empty streets. Invierno de 1944. Lucía, de apenas 21 años, llega a un pequeño pueblo de montaña. Allí se reencuentra con Manuel, un joven herrero que colabora con los del monte, los maquis: guerrilleros que, ocultos en la sierra, no se resignan al triunfo del franquismo. Cuando Manuel huye al monte, Lucia descubre la inhóspita realidad que oculta la montaña y, también, que por las vacías calles del pueblo sólo deambulan el silencio, el horror y el miedo. A pesar de ello, la pasión que siente por Manuel hace que Lucía mantenga viva la illusión y la esperanza de que llegarán días mejores.

As a substitute for hard-to-find 'Ay, Carmela!', you could do better

I went looking for the great Spanish Civil War movie '¡Ay, Carmela!' only to find out (¡Que Lastima!) that there's no US-compatible DVD release of that Carmen Maura film. If you can somehow get your hands on that one, it'll be worth your time and effort to track down.

However, Amazon's recommendation engine suggested I take a look at 'Silencio Roto' which, I guess, strives to be the great post-Spanish Civil War film. As the product description (see Amazon's intro) notes, 'Roto' follows "guerrilla warriors hidden in the mountains, who do not accept Franco's triumph." Given that Franco was firmly entrenched in power until his death in 1975, it's not difficult to predict a denouement not advantageous to the film's protagonists.

'Roto' is a good, not great, film. However, without some historical understanding of the Spanish Civil War, I believe the casual but earnest viewer will lose the plot or their interest fairly quickly. May 5, 2007

Great Movie, especially for 'left wing' europeans

I loved this movie so much. I did not know much about 'los maquis' but I knew a lot about 'partigiani' which are the Italian fighters against the Mussolini's men. I thought that, since Spain had had a civil war to get rid of Franco, and did not make it, that was it. Watching this movie I learned that that was not it. Brave men and women had tried to resist the Spanish dictator, as Italians, and to a less extent - whatever it is believed outside Europe- French people had done, Hiding up in the mountains and fighting for their ideas, fighting to get their friends free.
Montxo Armendàriz has done a great work again. Maybe a little slow for American people, it flows perfectly for European eyes. Very realistic, the story is very believable.
The actors, most young, did an excellent job. But, as two of them Juan y Marìa Botto, were trained by the actress who also trained Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas, this comes as no surprise. Lucìa Jimenez, the main character, and Carmen Sanpietro, who plays tha aunt, render the feeling of fear and suspect almost touchable. You feel the pressure they had to feel those days. Juan Diego Botto gives the idea of being thorn between fighting for what he believes and living the joys of family life very well in the scene that takes place in the kitchen, and his siter Marìa, which usually is a very talented comedy actress, demonstrates she is great in dramatic roles as well, showing how the desire of fighting for your your ideas can fade away when those you love are sistematically killed.
One last word about the musical score. It's only one piece played differently, but it gives you goosebumps. June 18, 2005

beautiful

A very beautiful and well-acted movie about a rural town in Spain where the Civil War didn't end after Franco took Madrid. A young woman returns to her family town in the mountains to live with her aunt and finds herself in the middle of a bitter revenge-filled guerilla war between the "dead-ender" republicans in the mountains and the Franquist Civil Guard. All the people she loves seem trapped by destinies they can't or won't escape, ending either in front of a firing squad or living without hope.

In a time when most american movies seem filled with violence and sadism and computer glitz, it's great to find a movie like this that tells a story well and deeply. June 18, 2004

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