Gernika

Guernica could have been one of my all time favorites but unfortunately, as it happens too often these days, the culmination was badly executed. The first act is wonderful, a perfect setup for the upcoming events in the movie, with breathtaking cinematography, decent script and superb acting. The sets and the costumes were top notch, whoever could pull this off with 5 million deserves utmost respect. The first 30 minutes really feel like you're watching one of those great classics and I was pretty convinced that this movie is going to be ten star material. Unfortunately, as the movie progresses past the second act, it starts to lose its charms. The focus turns on the love story, which somehow manages to be underdeveloped, despite the huge screen time that it has. From there on, we have a cascading chain of blatant clichés which, combined with a final act that feels disjointed, really ruin the whole experience. Now if you pay attention, you'll notice that the final act is where we lose the German perspective. A scene on a bomber, a pilot reaction or even the German colonel watching the ongoing bombardment from a far would've kept this perspective alive and could've added some needed dramatic effect. Instead, the focus falls entirely on the events occurring in Guernica, which wouldn't be so bad if the whole act wasn't filled with severely overused clichés. All in all, this is a pretty decent war drama, which could've been something really special, had the writers come up with more original ideas.

I hoped that this would be a film like others, which would give insight to what happened. I'll never know. The first 15 minutes of the movie, never set the tone of the movie, and as such, decried the history of what happened. Gernika never happened, nor did this movie. This movie is a disgrace to those who were murdered.

"Guernica" is a very good film and it's well worth seeing. However, I also assume that most folks just aren't that interested in seeing a film about a town leveled in 1937 during the god-awful Spanish Civil War. Not exactly a crowd-pleaser of a topic for a movie in 2016...but still a well made and interesting film.

To really understand the movie, you should know a bit about this war--things you may not clearly understand when you watch. In 1936, the Spanish people elected a socialist government (often called 'Republicans'). However, a coup soon broken out when right-wing nationalist generals decided to depose their leader and create their own government. It wasn't a quick nor easy process, however, and the bloody war raged on for several years. Soon the Soviets began aiding the government and the Axis powers (Germany and Italy) began sending support to help General Franco and his Nationalist forces ultimately win the war. The destruction of the town of Guernica by the Luftwaffe was soon made famous by Picasso's enormous mural named after this city.

When the film begins, Henry (James D'Arcy) is an American news correspondent who working in Spain during this war. He soon finds frustration in covering the events, as often the Republican Spanish government heavily censors his stories--making them, essentially, bland propaganda. What he doesn't realize is that the Soviets advisers in the country are essentially running both this propaganda campaign as well as a Stalinist system by which 'enemies of the state' are ruthlessly purged...whether or not they are guilty of anything. Because Henry has a habit of stepping on toes, he soon is the subject of one of these purges...and this ends up not only affecting him but his lady, Teresa (Maria Valverde). But just as this trap is sprung, the infamous bombing begins.

While this is a romance, I must emphasize that the romantic portion is not primary. Additionally, the plot will not satisfy romance junkies--it doesn't follow the formula of a romance and is more tragic than heartwarming. Instead, the film is more about the events leading up to the carpet bombing of the town of Guernica as well as a vivid recreation of this...and this fictional romance is woven into this. History junkies, however, will be happy with this choice in focus, as the film did an excellent job trying to get the look right of the German planes, uniforms and costumes. It also didn't portray either side as the good guys or bad guys--a mistake many films often make when they discuss the war. Think about it...Stalin on one side, Hitler and Mussolini on the other! About the only thing that didn't work for me in the film was having Henry knowing absolutely no Spanish...none...which was very odd for a news man living in Spain and investigating what's going on in the war. Odd...but not a serious problem with the film. Overall, an interesting and occasionally powerful film about a seldom discussed topic.

The film is a love story set amidst the Spanish Civil War just before the bombing of the Spanish city of Guernica. In 1937 German airplanes bombed the city; killings over 1,600 and reducing the city to ashes. The bombing was immortalizing that same year in Picasso's famous painting.

The film suffers from poor direction, wooden performances, and a script which is both confusing and unfocused; featuring an implausible love story that's tacked on to make the "historical" part of the film more personal.

The film is pure fascist propaganda; produced to vilify the democratically-elected Republican government. The film attempts to blame the causalities of the bombing on the Republic's news censorship; Shifting the blame away from the Germans. In essence blaming the victims. However, the Spanish government had no prior knowledge that the Germans planned to raze the city of Guernica to the ground. The Nazis didn't advertise their war plans. German Nazi soldiers are depicted as ordinary men just carrying out orders; while the democratically-elected Republican government officials are shown as evil, devious men beholden to the Soviet Union setting up innocent people for incarceration and torture.

The Republic needed every man and woman it could use to fight the Fascists. The barbarians were literally at the gates. It had no time or interest incarcerating innocent people when real enemies of the state existed; paid mercenaries known as 5th columnists trying to take down the country from the inside. Many young men throughout the world volunteered to serve in Spain; fighting to save the world from Fascism, such as the Abraham Lincoln brigades from the US. This film is an affront, not only to the democratically-elected government of the Republic in Spain, but to the thousands who fought and the thousands who died fighting against Fascism. Long live the memory of the Spanish Republic!

James D'Arcy plays an American journalist who is stationed in Guernica in 1937. The German Condor Legion is active and the war is raging all around, but the Republic have strict orders to only allow good new3s out and as such all journalists are censored to the point of mere mouths for propaganda.

Meanwhile he sort of falls for Teresa who is one of the censors, but her Soviet boss, Vasyl (Jack Davenport) is also romantically committed to her and does not take kindly to the dalliance. We also have the brilliant Burn Gorman playing a NKVD agent who is deliciously ruthless (great piece of casting too) and he brings some welcome spice to the proceedings. What follows are the events that put Guernica on the map – 'for all the wrong reasons'.

This is a really well made film with some great performances (accents aside) and high class CGI and a nice attention to detail. The love interest is good but not really going to be legendary and some could say that the bombing was under done, but I found it to be about right – we don't need loads of screen time of people suffering to make the point. In English, Castilian, Basque and some German with good to average sub titles, this is a film that is very much worth checking out.