While at War

This is a very good movie, well-acted, well directed and with a nice photography, but the most important is its message and the reflection it causes.

The movie is about Spain in the 30s, but I see its importance in the actual context I'm living right now in my country as a brazilian.

The people who supports or simply doesn't stand up against fascism are not necessarily fascists as we can see in the main character. The brutality, fanatism and absurd could be right in front of your eyes and you still are not able to see and comprehend it, specially if the context you are living is confusing and complex.

Spain paid a very high price because of this and suffered for 40 years in the hands of a fascist - an upholder for the "good spaniards".

That's a movie that should be shown to people like Miguel de Unamuno before it's too late, like it was for him.

But what i do know ,and do know how, to appreciate a marvelously made and brilliantly acted movie like this, don miguel is just fantastic. my next mission in life are to devour all i can find on the subject spanish civil war, it mustve been a quagmire like the balkan story in the 1990's.

the grumpy old man gives a 10 with a recommend

The topic is very interesting and it doesn't hurt to remind people how those horrors begin. As a film, it is underwhelming. Gorgeously lensed and well cast, perhaps, the inventivity, the sense of rhythm which I enjoyed so much in his earlier work are absent here. The weight of the historical subject seems to have compelled Amenábar to opt for precision, a certain distance and lack of emotion. Meaningful but academic

A great film. Not only for acting, for stories, for portraits of characters or atmosphere but for the feeling to see a warning. And for a form of naked honesty reflecting not only the vulnerability of the main character, but ours. A film about illusions against reality. About courage, friendship and about Spain as result of ambiguous energies. And, sure, a film about Miguel de Unamuno proposed, in admirable manner, by Karra Elejade. A film about sides of power and about vulnerabilities. About fear, wars, doubts and power from roots and cynismus and murders and deep loneliness as refuge and cage. No doubts, it is not the best Amenabar. But, for many, many reasons, it is one of the most useful.

Well directed, well acted, As always Alejandro Amenábar has done an excellent job.

The story follows Miguel de Unamuno who was the rector of the university Salamanca before the war. As with happens with many intellectuals he was blind to the consequences of what was happening around him.

The dictatorship's rise and time in power is still a hot potato here in Spain. The transition to democracy, though smooth, did not manage to heal the wounds of seventy years of dictatorship.

This story is timeless: we cannot see the reality of something until it is too late. But even if we can, are we able to change things? Or is it the man with the gun and all the bullets that decides who is in the right?