Star
rating - 6/10
The period following the Spanish Civil War, with its systematic
and brutal persecution of anyone who opposed the victorious dictator General
Franco, is a fascinating one. La Voz
Dormida (The Sleeping Voice), being shown as part of the Cornerhouse annual
!Viva! festival of Spanish and Latin
American film, deals with this period of Spanish history, but not in a
completely satisfactory way.
It follows the lives of two sisters, Hortensia who is in
prison for her commitment to the Communist cause, and who has to endure the harsh
conditions there whilst pregnant; and
Pepita who does not consider herself to be political, but is nevertheless drawn
into the struggle via the people she loves. Pepita works as a maid for a
doctor, who is aware of the situation of her sister, but whose wife does not
approve of any Communist activity owing to her own losses in the Civil War. Pepita supports her elder sister as best she
can by visiting her, and by smuggling messages to her brother in law, who as a
fellow Communist is in hiding, with a serious gunshot wound. Whilst helping
out, she falls in love with another Communist and her life's path is set. The
lead roles are played very convincingly by Inma Cuesta and Maria Leon, and both
actresses portray their characters with conviction and talent.
But the film has more of the feel of a TV mini-series to
it, and is overly romanticised and at the same time far too graphic in terms of
the torture meted out to anyone the regime considers to be dangerous. It is
based on a bestselling novel by Dulce Chacon, which I haven't read so cannot
comment on how faithful this adaption is. My bet is that this script does not
do the original work much justice, as it is too obvious, and signposts far too
much of what could be left to the viewer to deduce. It's a shame as it could
have been fabulous in the hands of a better director like Ken Loach. Now he would
really have done justice to this important and shocking subject matter.
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