The Backwoods (2006)

An English couple's holiday in Spain is interrupted when they discover a girl imprisoned in a cabin.

Director:

Koldo Serra

Writers:

Jon Sagalá (screenplay), Koldo Serra (screenplay)

Stars:

Gary Oldman, Virginie Ledoyen, Paddy Considine

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Gary Oldman	...	Paul
Virginie Ledoyen	...	Lucy
Paddy Considine	...	Norman
Aitana Sánchez-Gijón	...	Isabel
Lluís Homar	...	Paco
Jon Ariño	...	Lechón
Álex Angulo	...	José Andrés
Kandido Uranga	...	Miguel (as Kándido Uranga)
Andrés Gertrúdix	...	Antonio
Patxi Bisquert	...	José Luis
Savitri Ceballos	...	José Andrés' Daughter
José Andrés Zalguegui	...	Bartender (as José A. Zalduegui)
Ramón Churruca	...	Ignacio
Isabel Jiménez	...	Waitress
Yaiza Esteve	...	Nerea, The Child

Storyline

Ledoyen and Considine play a young married couple at the end of the 1970s, who come to visit a friend (Oldman) who now lives in the Basque region because he has married a woman from there (Sánchez-Gijón). Their tranquil summer turns to horror when they discover a girl with horribly mutilated hands in the forest. They try to help her by taking her away from the home in which she is locked, but the local villagers, who have to protect the girl, start a pursuit in the forest they know much better than the visitors.

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Plot Keywords:

couple | spain | married couple | cabin | rape attempt | 

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Taglines:

There are hunters and prey...that's the only truth in this world.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France Spain UK

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

16 February 2007 (Spain)

Also Known As:

The Backwoods

Filming Locations:

Navarra, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

€3,600,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmax Entertainment,Monfort Producciones,Castelao Producciones

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gary Oldman, Paddy Considine and Virginie Ledoyen were dubbed for the Spanish version of the film. The scenes where the characters had whole scenes with English dialog were all dubbed. Only when the characters spoke in English with the Spanish characters, the dubbing actors said their lines in English. 'Aitana Sánchez-Gijon' dubbed herself.

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Goofs

[All goofs for this title are spoilers.]

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Quotes

Norman: I'm just trying to think!
Paul: Don't think! Let me think for both of us!

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Connections

References Straw Dogs (1971)

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Soundtracks

There is a war
Written and Performed by Leonard Cohen
Taken from the Album 'New Skin for the old Ceremony'
Courtesy of Sony HNG Music, Canada

User Reviews

Poor writing and directing

I saw the director's short film which was not good but at least interesting and much better than this full-length movie "Bosque de sombras". Gary Oldman is obviously the only star in this movie but contrary to what the other reviewer said, I believed the Spanish cast was good. It was interesting to hear Gary Oldman speak some Spanish and I give this movie 3 stars because of Aitana Sanchez-Gijon and him.

Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, who is an excellent Spanish actress that I last watched in "The Machinist" with Christian Bale and was also in other English language movies like "A Walk in the clouds" plays Gary Oldman's wife. She can express mystery and emotion without saying any dialogue. I think she is one of the best but underrated Spanish actresses today. Lluís Homar was brilliant, in my opinion, and also the little girl.

I was mixed about Paddy Considine. I think he is a good actor but next to Gary Oldman, he was less interesting. In "Cinderella man" with Russel Crowe, he was excellent and also in "In America," but in this movie, he was only interesting when he was not in a scene with Gary Oldman but in scenes with the other actors, he steals every scene. I think that shows how strong Gary Oldman is that brilliant actors like Considine seem to fade next to him.

This movie is the first English language movie for Virginie Ledoyen since "The Beach" and I think it is fair to say that she will always be known as the girl from "The Beach" because she is a bland and boring actress. Even in french films she is dull because she lacks the range that other actresses her age have. In this movie, she is not at all convincing as her character. She "acts" better in her 30-second adverts for L'Oréal.

The biggest problem of this movie is the writing and the directing. Serra and his co-writer lack the skill in writing a coherent and original scénario. Stealing from other movies was a bad idea. There should have been more development in this to make it a real movie. Also, Serra uses the camera techniques of 70's directors which is OK at first but when he does this all the time it is distracting and does not serve any purpose except style. We all know it is set in the 70's but the directing should always be related to the story because style is cheap and easy and anyone who works only on style with no script should just direct commercials and music videos. Skip this movie and rent "Straw dogs" instead.