Frozen Silence (2011)

How do you find a murderer amidst the chaos, death and destruction of the Second World War? On the Russian Front in the harsh winter of 1943, a series of bodies, hideously mutilated and ... See full summary »

Director:

Gerardo Herrero

Writers:

Nicolás Saad (adaptation), Ignacio del Valle (novel)

Stars:

Juan Diego Botto, Carmelo Gómez, Víctor Clavijo

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Juan Diego Botto	...	Arturo Andrade
Carmelo Gómez	...	Sargento Espinosa
Víctor Clavijo	...	Estrada
Jordi Aguilar	...	Cabo Aparicio
Gabriele Malinauskaite	...	Zira
Sergi Calleja	...	Tiroliro
Rafa Castejón	...	Isart
Francesc Orella	...	Reyes Zarauza
Jorge de Juan	...	Paramio
Carlos Blanco	...	Pater Ramón
Javier Mejía	...	Capitán Larios
Deividas Balinskis	...	Aleksander
Manu Hernández	...	Pablito
Toni Hernández	...	Servando
Adolfo Fernández	...	Navajas del Río

Storyline

How do you find a murderer amidst the chaos, death and destruction of the Second World War? On the Russian Front in the harsh winter of 1943, a series of bodies, hideously mutilated and carved with bizarre symbols and messages, are discovered. Arturo, a world-weary police inspector, now serving his country in the brutal regime of the military, makes it his personal mission to track down the killer, a cunning, vicious entity seemingly intent on making known a diabolical master plan, one that may lead to the very top of the chain of command, threatening the very direction of the war.

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Plot Keywords:

feeding baby | sex scene | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

Spain Lithuania

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

20 January 2012 (Spain)

Also Known As:

El rostro del asesino

Box Office

Budget:

€1,380,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castafiore Films, Lietuvos Kinostudija, Lithuanian Film Studio

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Excellent Spanish war-time murder mystery in the Russian front

The discovery of dead horses and a Spanish soldier's corpse under a frozen lake in the Russian front(with their heads visible over the ice, like in Guy Maddin's "My Winnipeg") triggers an investigation lead by a former Spanish police inspector, now serving in the German army.

"Silencio en la nieve" tells a fictional story based on a real scenario: the presence of Spanish citizens in the German army during the WWII under the name "División azul". Albeit most of this soldiers were of extremely right-wing ideals, others were adventure junkies or even left-winged persons sent to the Russian front in order to help their politically imprisoned relatives.

Curiously there are only brief hints about that in Gerardo Herrero's excellent movie, which doesn't judge or excuse the character's ideals. This is practically an untold story in the annals of Spanish film history (nobody wants to film the exploits of military men who sided with Hitler), but we will have to wait for a war film about this subject (Spanish movie industry has no money for that, Gerardo Herrero dixit), because "Silencio en la nieve" is a murder mystery, and a well crafted one. The acting is superb, specially Carmelo Gómez. On a technical level, some of the special effects needed more budget (a couple of explosions seemed very CGI to me), but these problems are usual in Spanish cinema, and they are approached professionally here.

Eventually, viewers should consider "Silencio en la nieve" for what it is: well done, although not original, thriller yarn, using a fresh and never seen background. Highly recommended!