The (Silent) War

A decent film based on historical events with nice interpretations and shot in Spaghetti western style with great cast and evocative scenarios . It is set in 1944 , North Spain , there takes place an invasion of communist forces , the rebel Maquis , under direct orders of Stalin and to create a communist regime. As they pass across Valley of Arán , Huesca , to carry out the overthrowing Francoist dictatorship whose leader dictator General Francisco Franco, Falangists and Nationalist army had defeated the Communists and Republicans. While in France the German army was in a total retreat , defeated by the Allied encroachment in Normandy , on June 6 , 1944 . This Guerrilla operation from the Pyrenees mountains and others passes was named ¨Reconquest Operation¨ and resulted to be a total flop . The revolutionary invaders expected to encourage the local forces to create a an upheaval , but it was wrong . At the time, Spain was an impoverished , tyrannical , opressive country with absence of money and recourses due to a long Civil war (1936-1939) . A group of Guerrilleros pass the Pyrenees to execute a coup d'etat , but they're eventually taken down when are suddenly ambushed at a bridge where happens a destructive blowing up. Some of them get escaped as Anselmo (Asier Etxendia) , while Vicente (Hugo Silva) is subsequently imprisoned. But Anselmo is relentlessly chased by the Francoist soldiers (captain Aitor Luna, sergeant Imanol Arias).

Exciting Spanish film based on comic-books , including go riding , suspense , thrills , violent fights , crossfire , chills and a deadly confrontation . This is an interesting and moving picture following the wake of twight Western in the Sixties and Seventies as ¨Wild Bunch¨ , ¨Bite the Bullet¨ , ¨100 rifles¨ , ¨Hunting Party¨ and ¨Clint Eastwood's Joe Wiles¨, as well as the Italian Western with its main representative Sergio Leone and his Trilogy of the dollars : ¨Fist of Dollars¨ , ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨ , ¨The Good , the bad and the Ugly¨. This Spanish filmmaker Alfonso Cortés Cabanillas copes well this thrilling movie helped by the colorful forests and lush landscapes shot on location in Northern outdoors , Huesca, Valley of Arán , and Pyrenees . The flick is a little downbeat , showing us a Spain with plenty of misery , violence and poorness, adding a lot of people full of vengeance , hating and blood . The picture is sometimes , slow-moving and overlong , but all of them being making up for nice interpretations and entertainment enough . Main and support cast are frankly good . Stars Aixer Etxeandia who is terrific as a guerrillero with moral values but using extreme violence at times , while Aitor Luna is cool as the revengeful and very Catholic captain whose sadistic tendency rises to the highest degree . And other actors providing adequate acting, such as : Olimpia Melinte as a Russian killer sniper, Imanol Arias , Marian Aguilera and Ruth Diaz are all acceptable . Equally , brief but enjoyable intervention from veterans as Manuel de Blas and Antonio Dechent as two Nationalist officers.

Here stands out the brilliant and picturesque cinematography by camreraman Adolpho Cañadas , as well as stirring musical score by Carlos Jara . The motion picture was competently directed by Alfonso Cortes Canavillas (Los dias no vividos , Scoop , Porvenir), though it has some flaws and gaps . The (Silent) War rating : 6.5/10 . The yarn will appeal to historical action aficionados and Spanish cinema enthusiasts . Well worth watching.