The (Silent) War

On October 19, 1944 a force of Spanish maquis (most of them Republicans that had found refuge in France after the Spanish Civil War) invaded Spain through Val D'Aran and other passes of the Pyrenees. This action, called Operation Reconquest of Spain was launched at the time that the last units of the occupying Nazi army were being swept from France. The organizers expected to encourage an uprising against the Fascist government that would force the Allies to cross into Spain and terminate Franco's rule.

The operation failed; there was no uprising, Franco deployed a large and well equipped force against the maquis, and the Allies were wary of war and unwilling to undertake additional operations since Germany was still a formidable threat (the Battle of the Bulge would begin in less than two months). On October 28 the last maquis crossed the boundary back into France.

The Spanish title of this movie is Sordo, Deaf. This refers to one of the characters, Anselmo, who loses his hearing due to an explosion. The film deals with an episode of Operation Reconquest, is based on a comic strip (it shows) and It has the look and feel of a spaghetti western; for instance Anselmo comes into possession of an iconic overcoat/ cloak and hat seen in Sergio Leone movies. Another instance; the episode of the sergeant and the bullet.

The movie is weighted down by excessive length, some cartoonish characters and holes in the script . Example: a woman that was a Soviet sniper in Stalingrad is now working for the Fascists, No explanation given. And her character is pure cliche.

On the positive side, the film has excellent cinematography and special effects, but on the whole it is unsatisfactory.

This movie doesn't have any logic; the script and characters are unbelievables.

Crazyness and hate of this era are not shown in a credible way, I don't know what they wanted to express in thi film

That is one extremely boring movie. Loaded with cliché characters. For the first hour it's not going anywhere. Also, it's full of logical errors and plot holes.

Some eruptions of gore violence doesn't save it. A head of a guy is splashed off by a gun bullet, as if it was a grenade - funny, but for what? Useless torture scenes. A hot sexy russian (!) sniper girl kills all her contractees, and a room full of soldiers, why? out of bad mood?

Not worth your life time.

This movie was refreshing! The plot is slow, crude (in a good way), and full of nice and smooth plot twists. It feels so real, unlike hollywood crap...

I think this movie is underrated. I loved it. Great plot, great movie. I just they keep doing movies just like this one.

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.