Watch Guernica For Free

Excellent but underrated film

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The film is a love story set amidst the Spanish Civil War just before the bombing of the Spanish city of Guernica. In 1937 German airplanes bombed the city; killings over 1,600 and reducing the city to ashes. The bombing was immortalizing that same year in Picasso's famous painting.The film suffers from poor direction, wooden performances, and a script which is both confusing and unfocused; featuring an implausible love story that's tacked on to make the "historical" part of the film more personal.The film is pure fascist propaganda; produced to vilify the democratically-elected Republican government. The film attempts to blame the causalities of the bombing on the Republic's news censorship; Shifting the blame away from the Germans. In essence blaming the victims. However, the Spanish government had no prior knowledge that the Germans planned to raze the city of Guernica to the ground. The Nazis didn't advertise their war plans. German Nazi soldiers are depicted as ordinary men just carrying out orders; while the democratically-elected Republican government officials are shown as evil, devious men beholden to the Soviet Union setting up innocent people for incarceration and torture.The Republic needed every man and woman it could use to fight the Fascists. The barbarians were literally at the gates. It had no time or interest incarcerating innocent people when real enemies of the state existed; paid mercenaries known as 5th columnists trying to take down the country from the inside. Many young men throughout the world volunteered to serve in Spain; fighting to save the world from Fascism, such as the Abraham Lincoln brigades from the US. This film is an affront, not only to the democratically-elected government of the Republic in Spain, but to the thousands who fought and the thousands who died fighting against Fascism. Long live the memory of the Spanish Republic!

This interesting film results to be a romance story along with an exciting dramatization of the bombing of Guernica (26 April 1937) , it was an aerial bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War . It was carried out at the behest of Francisco Franco's nationalist government by its allies, the Nazi German Luftwaffe's Condor Legion and the Fascist Italian Aviazione Legionaria, under the code name Operation Rügen . The town was being used as a communications center behind the Frontline . Advances by Nationalist troops led by Generalísimo Francisco Franco had eaten into the territory controlled by the Republican Government . The Basque Government , an autonomous regional administrative body formed by Basque nationalists , sought to defend Biscay and parts of Guipuzcoa with its own light Basque Army. Meanwhile , a journalist Henry (James D'Arcy) writes news that are strongly censored by rigid censors as Teresa (María Valverde) in charge of overseeing the news that reporters can send abroad and Vasyl (Jack Davenport) . Then , their fates are tragically crossed during the Gernika massacre . There are also Stalinist advisers (Burn Gorman) who following Joseph Stalin's orders pull off bloody purges . As in love and war the first casualty is truth . The plot is plain and simple , an enjoyable as well as intimate love story in war times . This dramatic film about an unresolved romance , is well narrated and reminisce about a triangular love story , including an intense dramatization of the Gernika bombings . Breathtaking final scenes when there takes place the bombing , being confined to the film's last fifteen minutes and the ending images will determine the surprising denouement . The movie utilizes an often-used plot of the war movie genre which has two young people , here the cynical American correspondent James D'Arcy and the jealous Jack Davenport in love with the same woman , Maria Valverde , one of the Republic's censors from leftist wing government . It contains an atmospheric and thrilling musical score by Fernando Velázquez . Colorful and evocative cinematography by the splendid director of photography Unax Mendia . The movie was professionally directed by Koldo Serra (The backwoods , Distopia). The film had several nominations ASECAN 2017 as Nominated Best Editing , Best Sound ; Gaudí Awards 2017 Nominated Gaudí Award Best Costume Design : Millor Vestuari and Goya Awards 2017 Nominated Goya Best Special Effects : David Heras . The picture is based on real events , these are the followings : At the time of the raid, Guernica represented a focal strategic point for the Republican forces. It stood between the Nationalists and capture of Bilbao. Bilbao was seen as key to bringing the war to a conclusion in the north of Spain. Guernica also was the path of retreat for the Republicans from the northeast of Biscay. Prior to the Condor Legion raid, the town had not been directly involved in the fighting, although Republican forces were in the area; 23 battalions of Basque army troops were at the front east of Guernica. The town also housed two Basque army battalions, although it had no static air defenses, and it was thought that no air cover could be expected due to recent losses of the Republican Air Force. It happened on Monday 26 April , there was a noisy market day ; there were more than 10,000 people in the former Basque capital . The attack gained infamy because it involved the bombing of civilians by a military air forcé . The number of victims is still disputed; the Basque government reported 1,654 people killed at the time, while local historians identified 126 victims . An English source used by the Air War College claims 400 civilians died. Russian archives claim 800 deaths on 1 May 1937, but this number may not include victims who later died of their injuries in hospitals or whose bodies were discovered buried in the rubble. The bombing is the subject of a famous anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso, commissioned by the Spanish Republic. It was also depicted in a woodcut by the German artist Heinz Kiwitz, who was later killed fighting in the International Brigades. The bombing shocked and inspired many other artists, including a sculpture by René Iché, one of the first electro-acoustic music pieces by Patrick Ascione, a musical composition by René-Louis Baron and poems by Paul Eluard : Victory of Guernica , and Uys Krige : Night of the Fascist Bombers . There is also a short film from 1950 by Alain Resnais entitled Guernica.

The goal of the film was to put a human face on the tragedy of Guernica, the market town in Northern Spain that was destroyed by German bombers during the Spanish Civil War. Unfortunately, the romantic narrative was far-fetched, and the dialogue was often strained in this labored, slow-paced drama.The filmmakers were successful in conveying the complexity of the Spanish Civil War. The opposition of the fascist "loyalists" supporting Franco versus the "republicans," who were allied with Stalin, was well presented. But the film failed to convey the idealism of the Republicans. It was the passion of the Republicans to preserve their government against a military coup that captivated the world in the 1930s. Yet the passion was inexplicably missing in the film.The main character was an American journalist named Howell, who was evidently modeled on the British writer George Steer who broke the story of the atrocities at Guernica. But Steer, along with other like-minded writers like Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell, also witnessed the passion of ordinary people resisting the forces of fascism in the 1930s. Where was the passion in this film?The character of Teresa, who was a censor, was essential for demonstrating the uses of propaganda. But her character did not demonstrate to Howell why the cause of the Spanish Civil War was important in taking a stand against European fascism. The filmmakers seemed unaware of how important it was in the 1930s to resist another nation turning to fascism. That SHOULD have been the main focus of this drama.In the final analysis, the romantic intrigue was not compelling or believable. And despite the beautiful photography of Northern Spain, the true soul of the nation was not captured in "Guernica."

Here in Spain, every time we see a movie about the Civil War the first thought is "oh no, same old story". Well, this is broken by this story made by Mr. Alba, Mr. Clavijo and Mr. Serra. Without paying attention to political issues, the film describes the happenings of that awful day of the bombs in Gernika through a love story and being respectful to the real events. It is wonderful to see a film carried out so carefully, with so much passion and looking for the spectator's heart. It is impossible not to see this movie without throwing a tear at the end. Furthermore, the Original Soundtrack is awesome, it lays under the story always making the perfect accompaniment; it is worth to listen to it while reading a book ;)