THE SILENCE OF OTHERS (El silencio de otros)

Director: Robert Bahar and Almudena Carracedo

Spain, 95

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At a time when authoritarian leaders are on the upswing, this powerful documentary on the aftermath of fascist Spain, produced by filmmaker Pedro (and brother Augustin) Almodovar could not be more important. In spite of Spain declaring a Pact of Forgetting and granting amnesty to all participants – the only post-World War democracy to do so – we hear the stories of survivors of Franco’s murderous regime. Some are mothers whose babies were killed in a Nazi-like eugenics program; some are torture survivors; some, like octogenarian Maria Martin, saw their parents shot down in front of them. The film also follows an Argentine lawsuit against some of the worst offenders. In the words of one of the lawsuit plaintiffs, former political prisoner Jose Maria Galante: “Looking for justice isn’t looking for revenge: it’s less tidy and more difficult. This tender film knows the difference.”

“Unfolding with all the force of a classic political thriller by Costa-Gavras or Francesco Rosi… The Silence of Others emerges as a moving salute to the small victories of determined individuals.”– Screen Daily