The (Silent) War

Filmology Rating: 2.5 out of 4

The (Silent) War is a Netflix Spanish War film directed by Alfonso Cortés-Cavanillas. The film nods itself to "For Whom the Bell Tolls," an Ernest Hemingway novel.

A rebel against Franquist's dictatorship (Asier Etxeandia), who turns deaf after a failed sabotage, tries to escape from the military forces who prosecute him.

The film itself is quite odd because, even after seeing it, I'm still unsure as to what the film was going for.

One the one hand, we have a very pulpy western and even some music that leans towards that tone. On the other hand, it's a war film where the cinematography enhances that feeling. So the common occurrences of tone shift from spaghetti western to gritty war then to exploitation makes this a very messy experience.

The first half hour was actually somewhat promising in this gritty war tone, but with the introduction of a Russian sharpshooter baddie who wears an eyepatch is like adding some odd ingredient to a soup that does not mix well. Then with that same generic baddie, we arrive at complete exploitation between herself and another woman.

The film also has lots of issues with pacing. About halfway through the film you've just about had enough of the one-dimensional characters. And in a good film, there is normally a ramping up in the narrative to a climactic ending. Instead, this film was like watching a car run of out gas a mile before the finish line where you don't know what to make of the film by the end or what to be feeling.

The main character himself is deaf. It's an interesting idea to have a survival/hunt film where a character is unable to hear. So you'd expect this character to develop some new skill to overcome his loss of hearing. Well, no. Instead, the soldiers chasing this man are just so inept that they cannot sneak up on a deaf person.

It feels like a Leone/Tarantino pastiche that takes all the wrong lessons from each filmmaker and attempts to imitate that style of blending pulp with a well-crafted drama.

If you want a fantastic version of 'The (Silent) War,' seek out Sergio Leone's 'Duck, You Sucker!' It's a wonderful spaghetti western that balances that tone with a war drama quite well.

Rating: Skip It

-Nolan