La trincea infinita

The story is set in Spanish Civil War time. A man is trying to escape from Nationalists in a village in Andalusia. His strategy is to hide. In the town there are doubts about where he is hidden, people suspect. Not only Higinio suffers his persecution, but his wife, Rosa, has to face many difficult moments. The setting of that time is perfect, also clothing and language. It is slow and long. It lacks emotion and intensity. 147 minutes are excessive for the story itself.

This movie delicately captures how humans who are governed by fear not only rendered helpless, but are also transformed to alien versions of their former selves. What are the enduring repercussions of civil wars and dictatorships? What does life mean under these conditions? Is life a mere survival or do we stop living once our souls and spirits are crushed? Does a crushed soul and a defeated person stand a chance of living again? Can love survive military dictatorships?

This movie is an attempt to address all of these questions and its take is moving, heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time!

Endless Trench. 2017 (Spanish Language) Netflix.

Set pre 2nd world war during the Spanish civil war. Fleeing from a fascist clampdown, Hignio hides away helped by his wife Rosa, He fashions a meagre and solitary existence in the dark behind the walls in their house. At over 2 1/2 hours long the film is a bit of a tunnel, with no obvious light at the end. Bizarrely you do feel for the characters and what originally was self preservation, after 1, 2, 10, 15, 20 30 years becomes a prison of their own making.

There are a lot of what appear flaws to the idea behind the film. But once you realise that these moles "topos" as the locals would call them where scattered all over Spain and this story is loosely based on fact, it does become quite riveting.

By the end the film does become incredibly sad , when you realise what the couple have sacrificed over the years. Is a worthy watch, but probably could have been a lot shorter.

The film deals with multiple issues including the psychological effects of isolation, the relationship consequences, trauma of rape, and childhood problems as a result of parental illness. I was initially put off by the length of the film, but it needed this length in order to fully develop the themes. This is one of the few long films that I've seen in which the length of the film was justified.

Like all dictatorships, it comes with victims, beneficiaries, traitors and so on. This movie ignores most of that and instead it shows the suffering of a single family for over three decades, showing it well in a very intimate way. In times of today it is very hard to believe that this period actually wasn't so long ago.