Silencio Roto (Broken Silence)

Starring:LucÃa JimÃ©nez, Juan Diego Botto, Mercedes Sampietro, Ãlvaro de Luna, MarÃa Botto, RubÃ©n Ochandiano, MarÃa VÃ¡zquez (II), Joseba Apaolaza, Pepo Oliva, Jordi Bosch, RamÃ³n Barea, Alicia SÃ¡nchez (II), Helio Pedregal, Ander ErburÃ¹, Andoni Erburu, AsunciÃ³n Balaguer, Joan Dalmau, Gonzalo Baz, Patxi Bisquert, Kandido Uranga
Director: Montxo ArmendÃ¡riz
Studio: Vanguard Cinema
Product Type: DVD

Description

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.

Customer Reviews:

As a substitute for hard-to-find 'Ay, Carmela!', you could do better.......2007-05-06

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.

"Strangers fight for a short time--families for a lifetime.".......2006-01-04

The Spanish film, "Silencio Roto" begins in 1944 when Lucia (Lucia Jimenez) arrives in a remote mountainous village. Lucia left the village as a child, and she's returning to work in her aunt and uncle's bar. Franco now rules Spain, but the village is a hotbed of activity by the Maquis--Republican guerillas in the mountains who continue to fight after the collapse of the Spanish Civil War.

Soldiers garrisoned at the village maintain a tight atmosphere of fear over the residents. Soldiers publicly humiliate villagers, and relatives of known guerillas are ordered to the garrison for sessions of questioning and torture. In spite of the fact that the villagers, are in many ways kept hostage by the army presence, some of them still find time to aid the rebels. Lucia forms a relationship with the young blacksmith, Manuel (Juan Diego Botto) until he too is forced to take to the mountains and hide out with the guerillas.

As rebel activity increases, reprisals against the villagers occur in the form of crackdowns and punishments. With informers everywhere, it soon becomes impossible for anyone to remain neutral, and Lucia's involvement with the guerillas becomes increasingly dangerous.

"Silencio Roto" is highly romantic--and the fate of these star-crossed lovers--Lucia and Manuel is set against the national discord in Spain. The film illustrates that the Spanish Civil War--although conveniently forgotten by the rest of the world--still raged in parts of Spain long after the end of WWII. The film examines the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and the point is made that it just wasn't possible to lay down one's arms and return home. The length of the conflict ensured the involvement of several generations of family members, and this idea is well conveyed in this sad, and yet beautiful film. From the Basque director Montxo Armendaria, the film is in Spanish with English subtitles, and it joins the growing ranks of Spanish films that are now free to announce and examine the atrocities of Franco's Spain--Rated 4 stars, but unable to correct rating--displacedhuman

Great Movie, especially for 'left wing' europeans.......2005-06-19

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.

beautiful.......2004-06-18

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.

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