by Joseph Davis, Contributing Writer
If there is one thing people know about me, it’s that I enjoy reading and discovering things about history. While some of these events, such as the Second World War, I’m far from the only person diving into the subject, there are other events that often coincide with these larger ones that I do try to dig for and find. One of these might be the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s and the rule of Spain by Francisco Franco. Thus, when I found the film La Trinchera Infinita (The Endless Trench) on Netflix, it caught my interest. Telling the story of a supporter of Republican forces forced into hiding due to fears of National retribution, with this month’s Out of Market I decided to take a dive into the confined world presented.
The story itself and how the film is presented is what I want to discuss first. Overall, it did a fantastic job of showing the cramped life that our lead character Higinio (Antonio de la Torre) had to live. Having to live confined to a small space in the ground below one house and in the wall of another, it showed just how limited the world was to Hinigio. There are moments when he can only watch as his wife deals with the people who want her husband dead, or who enter the home they live in where he can only watch as she attempts to live her life. It goes a long way to also show just how much the drastic measures he takes turn into ones that become normal to the abnormal outside world, one that changes drastically over time without those on the inside being able to see the wider scope of things. By showing these moments, some of which are rough and can be triggering (especially one where Hinigio’s wife is assaulted), it gives you a deeper sense of the tension the filmmakers were trying to give, especially in moments where his life is directly in danger. It’s brilliant work and makes it hit harder when it needs to.
The next thing I want to bring up is how the characters grow and develop. From the beginning of the war to the end of the movie, we see someone develop from a young idealist who wants to just survive, to a man who is entirely too used to living as he does and set in his ways. It also shows a woman who, time and again, manages to hold out for the man she loves until finally she has to make him decide to make the right decisions for her, their son, and himself. It has plenty of fantastic bits of character work that make the characters and their relationship deepen, from a newlywed romance to a couple set into an unusual routine. I can feel the weight of the emotions as the other processes their own decisions, and I like that about this movie.
The final thing I want to discuss is the one big criticism I have. As a whole, it is broken up into shorter vignettes punctuated by a specific word and the following definition. I feel like this movie breaks one of the most important rules I ascribe to any piece of visual media: show, don’t tell. I can feel the tension of hiding without needing to be told that the beginning of the section of the movie is about that. While the overall actions of each moment of the movie do a great job at telling the story, the word and definition appearing at each point breaks it up when I feel it would be far better served if it was allowed to flow and progress more naturally.
In the end, I’d believe most people in the States would find this a fascinating watch, if only because it provides a perspective not often seen. To use Pan’s Labyrinth as an example, we get to see the Spanish Civil War from the side of Nationalist soldiers and Republican rebels, when those were only the major players at the beginning of the conflict and doesn’t dive into the lives of those who had to hide in fear of persecution by the government and, in cases, vengeful neighbors. It’s also made me intrigued to learn more not just about modern Spanish history, but some of the smaller and lesser known details of the time period. Hopefully, dear reader, you may be able to do the same with it.
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