Reviews

I watched this film on cable last night, I was bored and looking for something to kill the time, but what a seemingly stupid film turned out to be a pretty interesting work which reminded me of our own lives (or probably just that I'm presuming too much).

The plot itself is pretty dumb, a 800 year war on shampoo and the history's first murder case. The dirty clan's plots to seize shampoo are downright moronic, but look at ourselves seriously, aren't there many things we do also equally stupid and useless? And about the stupid war, ah, the stupid war...

I don't speak french so I don't know how's the quality of the sub, but it did make me laugh, the film itself is funny, the actors, the music, the colours, it's just unreal and that's what makes it funny. The scene in which the camouflaged boss dreamed about the modern world is unbelievably superb. He was stoned, and of course he should be, and looked around with terror while the salesman rattled on without any change of expression like the presence of the strange man dressed in leaves surprised him not (or at least not showing it). The boss then had a recurring nightmare, or a trauma, something that might be subtle, but within all of us.

What's so great about this movie is that it parodies many aspect of our lives with seemingly stupid and childish approaches so successfully that I can't help laughing, at ourselves!

I had this gem for ages and only a while back did I manage to spend the time to watch it, you know, when you had something in the closet for a while you sort of forgot about its existence, like the not yet replied emails.

What strikes me the most is its touch of nostalgia despite its theme of patriotism and other social and political issues. The real world is cruel and, quoting the professor, "sometimes in History violence is necessary" (translation mine) and with the date of selling the locomotive to Hollywood loomed ever larger they decided to resort to "violence", i.e., action. They are a bunch of old men with the same passion- the locomotive, their treasure, their proud and their nation.

The professor relates a story of Ray Bradbury which I don't know which one is the one he is talking about that the characters faced the challenge and danger without hesitation, even though they were helplessly crushed in the end. It's the spirit that counts, says the prof. And it's in this same spirit that they set out on this journey in the last stage of their lives.

I can't help feeling sad and happy at the same time when the credit rolled because the beloved Dante, Pepe and prof are gone, they're old and soon would be dead, but there's hope as well, there's Guito. It's a reflection of the circle of life itself.

when we went to the cinema, I didn't know anything about the movie except for that it was about the civil war and that I was really bored that night and we had to choose between Soldados de Salamina and some Hollywood films so naturally we went for the Spanish civil war. watched it again last night. still don't know much about the civil war, but it's not the purpose of the film nor is it a requirement for enjoying this movie.

we arrived late, got in when Conchi got kicked out of the hospital. not so interesting at that moment, but as as the story unfolded itself, it was intriguing and when I left the cinema on the way home, my mind was still lingering on the story. what touches me was the obsession of the protagonist towards the event and her quest to find out the truth. maybe I'll try to get hold of the novel.