O Silêncio da Cidade Branca

Not such a mystery Not plot twists Not a masterpiece Just a easy going movie to spend some time

Whoever edited this movie should be fired immediately. What could have been a decent Da Vinci-style mystery was turned into a mess due to bad direction or bad editing or both.

To explain, you barely know what is going on or why. It appears some very key scenes were deleted which caused the story to be disjointed. Too often you would see a police at a suspect's house but you never saw the information or clue that led them there. One scene the police are looking at a newspaper clipping, next they are knocking down doors without explaining what they saw or why. There are many illiogicla time jumps, such as jogging in the middle of the night and somehow it is bright sunlight and they are jogging.

There is a movie somewhere hidden in this if you can decipher the mess.

While the main plot is fairly easy to follow, there are too many tangents and unresolved questions. The storyline jumps around and introduces side plots that are left unexplained and only muddy the central story. The acting was good and the English dubbing worked well enough. But just too darn confusing.

I've noticed that the terrible reviews seem to come from people watching the dubbed version of films on Netflix. The lazy or stupid who cannot read subtitles have no clue as to the true storytelling and acting presented to them.

This is no Silence Of The Lambs, but well worth of watching if one can actually read subtitles while viewing.

This is the adaptation of the first book of a trilogy. I think that people who have not read the books will have some trouble to follow the film. It is a very weak and dissapointing adapation which leaves outside some of the best things of the books: for example, the grandfather, one of the greatest carachters, only appears in one or two very brief scenes. The relation between Unai and Alba does not translate well to the screen. The rich traditional background you have in the book comes very superficial here, and so happens with the investigation itself. Also, having the "big mistery" revealed 20 minutes into the film does not help.

Generally all (acting, music, script...) is quite forgettable and superficial and lacks the magic the books have. In my opinion, it could (and should) have been made into a TV series, not into a movie.