Lettera a Franco

The Spanish civil war and the Franco regime are very under represented in the movie world, which is strange due to its obvious cinematic possibilities. Leave it to Alejandro Amenabar, one of my favorite Spanish directors, to try and tackle such an important subject. It takes the POV of Miguel de Unamuno, a Spanish writer and intellectual who was the dean of the university of Salamanca, and how the town reacted to the beginning of the civil war, and the eventual rise to power of Franco. What makes this story interesting is the complex relationship that Unamuno had with the rise of the regime and how his complacent actions helped the rise of fascism, much to his dismay. It is very well made, well acted, and the historical recreation is pretty good. My only complaints are that it is a bit biased on the way it sees history and it feels a bit cold.

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

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.

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?

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.