The Silence of Others reveals the epic struggle of victims of Spain's 40-year dictatorship under General Franco, who continue to seek justice to this day. Filmed over six years, the film fol... Read allThe Silence of Others reveals the epic struggle of victims of Spain's 40-year dictatorship under General Franco, who continue to seek justice to this day. Filmed over six years, the film follows the survivors as they organize the groundbreaking 'Argentine Lawsuit' and fight a sta... Read allThe Silence of Others reveals the epic struggle of victims of Spain's 40-year dictatorship under General Franco, who continue to seek justice to this day. Filmed over six years, the film follows the survivors as they organize the groundbreaking 'Argentine Lawsuit' and fight a state-imposed amnesia of crimes against humanity, and explores a country still divided four d... Read all
- Awards
- 31 wins & 14 nominations
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Self
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- Self
- (archive footage)
- (as King Felipe of Spain)
- Self
- (archive footage)
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn 2019 Franco has been moved out of the Valle de los caídos and in 2023 Primo de Rivera, another spanish dictator, has also been moved out of this monument.
- ConnectionsFeatures Salvados: Una hora en la Moncloa (2016)
- SoundtracksGrito de la amnistía
Written by José Luis García 'El Zorro'
And here indeed is the crux of the film, should the perpetrators of torture, execution and mass burial in unmarked graves of political and / or military opponents, now stand trial for their acts or does the newly-christened "Politics Of Forgetting" wipe the slate clean for all such acts during the notoriously brutal war and by all accounts similarly repressive deeds overseen by those in power on dissenting citizens afterwards. We also learn in this documentary of another heinous official practice in which the state forcibly removed newborn babies of mothers deemed unsuitable for whatever reason to bring up their child, placing the infants with new families whose status and political leanings were somehow deemed more correct for their upbringing.
The film highlights a number of remarkable individuals fighting for what they see as retrospective justice. It begins with the story of a determined little old lady whose mother was murdered by the Republicans when was only a six year old child. The impact of being orphaned so young, together with the background circumstance, has clearly never left her and her anger and determination to obtain justice is palpable. Other stories are then presented before us, a man tortured terribly in his youth by an identified individual still alive and coincidentally living in the same street as him today, another elderly woman who wishes to repatriate and formally bury her father who was shot and killed with many others in a wholesale execution and thrown into an unmarked mass grave.
However right at the start of the film we see clips of interviews with the current Spanish King and two recent prime ministers each defending the Amnesty Law and urging the complainants to effectively forget and forgive the acts against them. They and presumably many others believe that this was the best course of action for Spain as a newly-restored democratic country to move on in the future but should the amnesty waive liability for the more horrific acts carried out by certain individuals and should they now be brought to book, even long decades later?
It's a very difficult question and one I've seen played out closer to home with a similar amnesty passed by the U. K. government in its Good Friday Peace Agreement to end the conflict in Northern Ireland although here the film draws parallels with South American countries like Chile, Peru and Argentina all similarly run by dictators and with similar tales of inhuman treatment of certain of its citizens.
I would have appreciated longer interviews with the defenders of the policy for balance sake but have to admit that my heart was with the various complainants here. By the end of the film they achieve small victories but only by taking their case to a sympathetic Argentinian judge. However, although we see the extremely moving exhumation of a war grave which gives balm to the surviving family members and official street names altered so as to not commemorate Franco and other prominent pro-Nationalist individuals of the time, still the identified living individuals who orchestrated and carried out so many horrendous crimes are protected by the law.
This documentary unavoidably left many questions unanswered in a matter which clearly still divides the country even now as there is clearly still a strong pro-Franco faction in Spain today. Nevertheless, while it was fascinating for me to learn the background to this controversial issue, by its end I know where my sympathies lay. Even in the heat of war, acts of genocide, barbarism and inhumanity must surely always be brought to book.
Today I watched a Russian tank deliberately run over a car being driven by a Ukrainian citizen in an indefensible act of cold-blooded murderous cruelty. That tank commander will likely get off scot-free no matter the outcome of the Russian invasion.
In my opinion though, not all is fair in war...
- Lejink
- Feb 27, 2022
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Sự Im Lặng Của Đồng Loại
- Filming locations
- Madrid, Spain(interior and exterior locations)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $67,986
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $7,868
- May 12, 2019
- Gross worldwide
- $289,455
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1