DIRTY WOLVES/ LOBOS SUCIOS
Spain, 2015, 105 minutes, Colour.
Marianne Alvarez, Manuella Velles, Isak Ferriz, Pierre Kiwitt, Sam Loywyck, Thomas Coumans.
Directed by Simon Casal de Miguel.
Dirty Wolves is a rather grim Spanish film, made 70 years after the events it portrays, an opportunity to look back into the distant past, the era of Franco, the aftermath of the Civil War, Spanish neutrality in World War two, the relationship with the Germans and helping them, the pressure from the Allies.
The setting is a village in Galicia, in the remote mountains and forests where Wolfram has been discovered and is being mined by the people from the village as well as political prisoners to help the German war effort. The experience is drab, muddy, digging, explosions, the women sieving the metal. Payment is poor and the people are hungry.
The focus is on Manuela, a woman with a child but no father, working in the mine but singled out by British resistance to be a go-between with them and a condemned prisoner in the mine who is to organise tunnels within the mine so that the whole amount of Wolfram can be stolen to sabotage the German effort. This requires her to befriend a German official, a cultured man with a piano who has some mystical dreams about forests and caves, in order to steal the plans for the tunnels in the mine. Her younger sister becomes involved in helping Jewish refugees to cross into Portugal and is involved with a young man, son of the mine owners, who has returned from France in order to organise the theft of the metal.
The film builds to some tension with the theft, information to help the Germans, confrontations, some betrayals, torture and death.
An opportunity for an audience to be disturbed about these aspects of the Spanish past.
1. A Spanish memory of World War two? The aftermath of the Civil War? 70 years later?
2. The setting in the mountains of Galicia, the overviews of the mountains and valleys, the forests and caves, the water from mines, the tunnels, the drab exteriors, the homes in the village? The musical score?
3. The title, the stories of wolves, in the forests? Wolfram and its use in the war for destruction? The final story of the wolf in the cave and destroying the German officer?
4. The perspective on the war, the role of Franco, Spanish neutrality, alliances with Hitler, the pressure from the Allies? The Spanish civil guard, relationship with the Germans? With prisoners, with the people from the village, guarding the mine? Arrogance, confrontations?
5. The work in the mine, the women and the sieves, the men and the digging, the explosions? The poor payment? Meagre rations? The prisoners arriving, sentences commuted? Work in the mines?
6. The film’s focus on Manuela, dressed in black, her little girl, concerned for her health, no husband and her bitter memories of the father? Her work in the mine? At home, her mother? Her relationship with Candela? Her being asked to be the link with Miguel, carrying the information, the map of the mine, her getting the blueprint from the German? Her involvement with the German, submitting herself, clothes, meals, sexual encounters? Her relationship with Bryan and his pressure on her for communications? The attraction to Miguel, their meetings? The impact of her finding him hanging and her letting him down, telling him that she heard he was brave? The growing attraction, the medallion?
7. Edgar, the ownership of the mine, coming from France, the deaths of his parents, antagonism towards the Germans, the plan to steal the Wolfram? The plans, the meetings, Bryan and the British background, presence, radio communication, the digging? Needing more detailed plans? His interest in Candela? The Jewish refugee, taking him in the car, his escaping across the river? Teaching Candela to drive the car? The attraction, sexual attraction?
8. Candela, working in the mine, her resentments, relationship with Manuela, her mother? The medicines for the little girl? Her meeting with Edgar, helping with the escapes, at the river, the sexual encounter, her hopes, considering herself illiterate but hoping that Edgar would love her? The refugee girl, helping her – and Manuela eventually giving her food? The final refugee, going to the river, the pursuit by the Germans, the chase and the forests, interrogated, tortured, the information about the mine and the stealing? Her being shot? Manuela talking with her mother, the mother saying the German was nice, giving him the information and causing the death of her daughter?
9. The German, the piano, a man of culture, the mystical touch, the presence in the forest? His doing his duty, his associate, the civil guards? The attraction to Manuela, the dress, the meetings, the meal, sexual encounter? The discovery of the robbery, his tactics, to the mine, the metal on Miguel, Manuela and her betrayal, her persuading him to go into the forest, the promise of showing him the cave after denying it existed, his going in, his delight, not afraid of wolves – and the wolf attack and killing him?
10. Miguel, his background, musician, despair, hanging himself, saved, asked to head the sabotage, the meetings with Manuela, the maps, the success of the mission, the confrontation with the German? Making sure everyone was safe, the reunion with Manuela?
11. The war in hindsight, the role of Franco, his living on into the 70s, his effect on the Spanish society? The impact of the war, especially in Galicia and the Wolfram mines?
