Lettre à 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.

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.

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

But what i do know ,and do know how, to appreciate a marvelously made and brilliantly acted movie like this, don miguel is just fantastic. my next mission in life are to devour all i can find on the subject spanish civil war, it mustve been a quagmire like the balkan story in the 1990's.

the grumpy old man gives a 10 with a recommend

A great film. Not only for acting, for stories, for portraits of characters or atmosphere but for the feeling to see a warning. And for a form of naked honesty reflecting not only the vulnerability of the main character, but ours. A film about illusions against reality. About courage, friendship and about Spain as result of ambiguous energies. And, sure, a film about Miguel de Unamuno proposed, in admirable manner, by Karra Elejade. A film about sides of power and about vulnerabilities. About fear, wars, doubts and power from roots and cynismus and murders and deep loneliness as refuge and cage. No doubts, it is not the best Amenabar. But, for many, many reasons, it is one of the most useful.