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

Great story, great acting, great direction. Maybe it did not happen exactly as it is told (it is a film not a documentary) but the portrait of that Spain, of those days, of Unamuno, of the militars is perfect. The reasons of the caracteres, of all of them, not only Unamuno or Franco but also Millán Astray, the friends and family of D Miguel are a perfect mirror tonlook at and think over. After enjoying this film I started reading again some of Unamuno's books I had already read many years ago when I was younger.

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?

Violence may win a fight, but it does not win hearts. It does not persuade. During the first months of the Spanish civil war a senior professor and famous writer, Miguel de Unamuno, doesn't take the uprising too seriously. Cooler heads will prevail he believes. Yet as his friends and colleagues disappear, Miguel realizes he made a great mistake.

While at War is based on real events and the belief that Franco has not really died. "He is a ghost that haunts Spain to this day," said Alejandro Amenabar "the same events could happen again anywhere." Spain made great again. I was fascinated not only by the character of Miguel de Unamuno, but also by the portrayal of Franco. He avoids the inflexibility that brought down other dictators of the time. Franco is quiet, patient and wise in a devious - not moral - sense. He learns from others and changes as needed. It is fascinating to see some aspects of how the fascists and Franco came to power. It is not how I imagined. In my ignorance I even imagined the wrong character to be Franco through half the film. While at War is not merely a good story, it is well made and acted as well. Seen at the Toronto international film festival.