music friday: 2003
le doulos (jean-pierre melville, 1962)

la trinchera infinita (jose mari goenaga, jon garaño, and aitor arregi, 2019)

I watched this, called The Endless Trench in English, because it was said to feature Andalusian Spanish. Good call. The idea with these movies is I watch them in Spanish, with Spanish subtitles. Hopefully I improve my Spanish comprehension, and I enjoy the Andalusian accent of my family.

Directed by three Basque film makers, The Endless Trench is based on the true stories of men on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War who rightfully feared reprisals from Franco's representatives. These men, "topos" (moles), used hiding places in their homes to avoid capture for 30 years, until amnesty was announced. The Endless Trench tells the story of one of those men, Higinio.

There is excruciating tension, but the film makers manage to expand the story beyond the trench, as we see not only how this exile affects Higinio, but how it affects his family. Higinio lives underground for so long it becomes normal to him, even as he curses his fate. We are with him in his shelter ... we learn the logistics of his life. We experience the quasi-freedom when he is able to roam throughout his house, and with him we come to grips with the difficulties his family faces in trying to live their lives while protecting him.

It all sounds like an oppressive film to view, and it is, in some ways. There is less of the "triumph of the human spirit" than I expected ... the life of Higinio is not an easy one. And at 2 1/2 hours, it sometimes feels like we're in that trench for 30 years along with Higinio. But the overall impact is powerful, and if you don't know the story of Los Topos, it's instructive as well.

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