''Frozen Silence'' ( es, Silencio en la nieve, links=no, lit=Silence in the Snow) is a 2012 Spanish-Lithuanian war-time mystery thriller directed by

Gerardo Herrero Gerardo Herrero Pérez-Gamir (born 28 January 1953) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer. He is a prolific promoter of international coproductions and collaborations between Spain and Hispanic American countries. From 1993 to ...

which stars

Juan Diego Botto Juan Diego Botto Rota (born 29 August 1975) is an Argentine-Spanish film, stage and television actor. Born in Argentina, he moved to Spain together with his mother (the actress and acting coach Cristina Rota) in 1978. Following early film appe ...

as inspector Arturo Andrade and

Carmelo Gómez Carmelo Gómez Celada (born 2 January 1962) is a Spanish actor. He is the recipient of two Goya Awards, for best supporting actor in '' The Method'' and best leading actor in '' Running Out of Time''. A very popular actor in 1990s Spanish cinem ...

as a fascist fellow

Blue Division The Blue Division ( es, División Azul, german: Blaue Division) was a unit of volunteers from Francoist Spain within the German Army (''Wehrmacht'') on the Eastern Front during World War II. It was officially designated the Spanish Volunteer D ...

member, with both investigating a series of killings in the midst of the Winter in the eastern theatre of World War II. The screenplay by Nicolás Saad is an adaptation of Ignacio del Valle's novel ''El tiempo de los emperadores extraños''.

Plot

Eastern Front of World War II The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

. Winter of 1943. The discovery of the corpse of a soldier with an blood inscription on the chest made with a knife (the start of a series or ritual killings) near

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

haunts a battalion of the

, the unit dispatched by the

Francoist dictatorship Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

to help

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in World War II. Private Arturo Andrade (a former police inspector and someone with a shrouded past suggested to be damning from an ideological standpoint) and fascist sergeant Espinosa team up to crack the mystery, which turns up to be related to a

Masonic lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

in Valencia. The film ends with the beginning of the

Battle of Krasny Bor The Battle of Krasny Bor was part of the Soviet offensive Operation Polyarnaya Zvezda in the Eastern Front of World War II. It called for a pincer attack near Leningrad to build on the success of Operation Iskra and completely lift the si ...

Cast

Production

Written by Nicolás Saad, the screenplay is an adaptation of ''El tiempo de los emperadores extraños'', part of a tetralogy of novels featuring inspector Arturo Andrade. A Spanish-Lithuanian co-production, the film was produced by Tornasol Films, Castafiore Films, Foresta Films, Zebra Producciones, and Lietuvos kino studija. Shooting locations included Alicante's

Ciudad de la Luz Ciudad de la Luz ("City of Light") is a film studio in Alicante, Spain. About 60 films were shot on the studio's premises between opening in 2005 and closing in 2012. In May 2012, the European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the e ...

as well as

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

Release

Distributed by Alta Classics, the film was theatrically released in Spain on 20 January 2012. Except for a few specific milieus (including specialised critics and the , those larping the memory of the Blue Division without having been a member), it was met with general apathy. While it managed to enter as the fourth highest-grossing film at the Spanish box office in its opening weekend (albeit with a modest €195,000), it underperformed throughout its theatrical run, grossing €406,843 (against a €5.2 million budget) and was cited among the Spanish productions with more in-year losses.

Critical reception

Jonathan Holland of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' deemed the film to be an "ambitious, multilayered thriller", considering that despite an excess of labored dialogue and elements crammed into some plotlines, the film manages to successfully blend "genre excitement with historical intrigue", otherwise singling it out as the best feature by Herrero since ''

The Galíndez File ''The Galíndez File'' () is a 2003 drama film directed by Gerardo Herrero and starring Saffron Burrows, Harvey Keitel, Eduard Fernández and Guillermo Toledo. It is based on Manuel Vázquez Montalbán's 1991 novel '' Galíndez''. Cast *Saffron ...

''. Alfonso Rivera of ''

Cineuropa The MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe or simply Creative Europe MEDIA (formerly The MEDIA Programme of the European Union) is designed to support the European film and audiovisual industries. Budget The goal of programmers is to increase the ...

'' wrote about the film's atmosphere, "rarefied and marred not only because of the murders that reek of revenge, sadism and depravity, but also the little attachment to life of some soldiers, the internal corruption of the troops, the solitude devoid of feelings that is suffered in such circumstances and the desperate search for answers to something that has no reason to be". Sergi Sánchez of '' La Razón'' gave the film a negative review, considering that the film does not work "because the execution is as flat as an ironing board. Because the dialogues are contrived. ndBecause the performances xcept for Sergi Calleja'sare affected". Irene Crespo of ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a Spanish language monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)( ...

'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, summing it up as a "careful production and interesting thriller in the cold Russian front".

Accolades

, - , align = "center" rowspan = "2" , 2012 , , rowspan = "2" ,

21st Actors and Actresses Union Awards The 21st Actors and Actresses Union Awards ceremony was held on 18 June 2012 at the Teatro Circo Price in Madrid. The gala was hosted by Yayo Cáceres. In addition to the competitive awards the association 'Madres unidas contra la droga' and act ...

, , Best Film Actor in a Secondary Role , , Carmelo Gómez , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Film Actor in a Minor Role , , Víctor Clavijo , ,

References

External links

{{authority control 2010s Spanish films 2010s Spanish-language films Eastern Front of World War II films Spanish crime thriller films Lithuanian thriller films 2012 crime thriller films Tornasol Films films Films directed by Gerardo Herrero Films shot in Lithuania Films shot at Ciudad de la Luz Films set in 1943 Films based on Spanish novels Films scored by Lucio Godoy