Soldados de Salamina

David Trueba makes a lot more sense of the novel than did Javier Cercas when he wrote it. The novel is like an endless loop of the author telling the story of how the fascist Rafael Sánchez-Mazas escaped execution. In the novel, this brief historical episode is repeated endlessly, to the point of it being maddeningly repetitive. The film spares us this repetition just as the fascist's life was spared.

The pity was that the fascist Rafael Sánchez-Mazas didn't die in a firing squad. The typical path of cowards is to foment war and then conveniently side-step and actual combat. Dick Cheney, Donald Trump, George Bush are only a few modern examples.

The movie, like the book, chronicles a reporter's investigation into how the above-mention fascist escaped a firing squad in the waning days of the Spanish Civil War, and the story about how a Republican soldier spared his life when he was discovered in the woods near the site of the failed execution. Why did the soldier not kill or capture the fascist? I don't find that a particularly interesting question, certainly not enough for a novel, bit almost enough for a decent film.

when we went to the cinema, I didn't know anything about the movie except for that it was about the civil war and that I was really bored that night and we had to choose between Soldados de Salamina and some Hollywood films so naturally we went for the Spanish civil war. watched it again last night. still don't know much about the civil war, but it's not the purpose of the film nor is it a requirement for enjoying this movie.

we arrived late, got in when Conchi got kicked out of the hospital. not so interesting at that moment, but as as the story unfolded itself, it was intriguing and when I left the cinema on the way home, my mind was still lingering on the story. what touches me was the obsession of the protagonist towards the event and her quest to find out the truth. maybe I'll try to get hold of the novel.

Not really. "Soldados de Salamina" it's not a great novel, from my point of view. And like the main character, never gets to close to the real drama of the Spanish Civil War, except in two or three things. And we've got the same conflict with the film, besides the changes after the screen adaptation. I think it's a good movie for people who doesn't know too much about the Spanish Civil War, specially some scenes, when the journalist can talk with the old republican fighter it's a great moment, the best in the whole film. But the movie goes in and out of many nonsense, like the "modern gipsy" (a nice and great interpretation, but outside the movie, except for some relief for all the horror of the war we must face). And the narrative is bouncing without direction from start to end. Well, if you don't have any idea about the Spanish Civil War go ahead...if you know...you know

The Javier Cerca's book in which this film is based was already an excellent material to make a movie, and director David Trueba doesn't deceive at all the expectations generated.

Trueba's screenplay introduces a lot of significant changes (the main one is the gender of the protagonist, now a woman, a role wonderfully performed by Ariadna Gil), and far from betraying the novel's spirit, all of these changes add a lot of deepness to the story.

As far as the direction is concerned, Trueba mixes admirably fiction, the recreation of historical events and archive material. The main character's investigation about a surprising event at the end of the Spanish Civil War is filmed under a realistic light and with a documentary approach, and that is in harmony with the rest of the textures used to recreate historical facts.

The whole cast deserve special mention, too.

All in all, "Soldados de Salamina" is one of the most interesting Spanish films shown to date. Not only a notable cinematic work, but also a touching story about the nonsense of war and the little acts that ordinary people do in order to redeem our imperfect human condition.

When the professor and writer Lola Sánchez (Ariadna Gil) is assigned to write a column in the newspaper about the Spanish Civil War, she researches and finds for the first time about the shooting of Rafael Sánchez Mazas (Ramon Fontserè). Lola has lost her passion for writing, and she becomes intrigued about Rafael, who was a writer and journalist that returned to Spain from the Italy of Mussolini and founded the fascist party Spanish Falange, becoming adviser of the leader Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera. When the lefts won the election in 1936, the Falange became illegal, and later there was a military coup d'stat. Rafael miraculously escaped from the shooting and was spared by an unknown soldier. Lola decides to write a book about the historic event and to disclose the identity of the unknown soldier. But her acquaintance Conchi (María Botto) advises that her work is affected by her lack of passion. When Lola reads a work of a student about the heroic former soldier Miralles (Joan Dalmau), Lola becomes obsessed to find him and see of he is connected to the event.

"Soldados de Salamina" is a great movie that discloses parts of the dark period of the Civil War in Spain in an excellent screenplay, with two parallel stories, one fictional in the present days and the other true in 1939. Like the lead character, I just know very few things about this bloody war and I had never read anything about Rafael Sánchez Mazas, therefore I had the chance to learn a little about the history of this nation. I believe that the last movie I saw of Ariadna Gil was "Los Peores Años de Nuestra Vida", and I am glad to see this gorgeous actress in another excellent performance. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Soldados de Salamina" ("Soldiers of Salamina")