Film Review Lobos Sucios (Dirty Wolves)

An interesting and very well done film, Dirty Wolves gives us a look at post-war Francoist Spain during WWII.

Manuela

Directed by Simón Casal and written by Carmen Abarca and Silvia Balanza (collaborator). I didn’t realize that two women wrote the film, but now that I watched it twice it does an excellent job of writing women. The film is beautifully shot and tells the story of two sisters whom are willingly in the case of Candela, played by Manuela Vellés and unwillingly in the case of the older sister Manuela, played by Marian Álvarez, to resist the Franco regime and the Germans.

The film centers on the importance of Wolfram, or Tungsten, to the German war effort. Wolfram is used for alloys and hard metals, which are used to produce armaments such as armor piercing shells. As well as the effort of the local population, prisoner miners, and resistance fighters to disrupt the trade as well as earn enough pesetas to live.

During the war the Germans for their part in helping Franco received very significant and vital wolfram at a severe discount.  The film is set in Galicia and is based on the El Eje prison mine in Ourense that the Germans operated from November 1942 to July 1944.  There were 461 prisoner miners plus villagers that worked in the mine. As the war turned against the Germans the Spanish retook control of their Wolfram and ceased sending it to Germany.

Dirty Wolves is a play on words, dirty referring to those who worked in mines and is a vehicle for a folk tale about wolves that were living in a Yew forest. Manuela sees visions of wolves and owls that foresee events, usually death.  The German mine manager Franz who takes a liking to Manuela is also very superstitious.

Manuela, her sister and mother helped hide Jewish women whom escaped from France.  A local resistance fighter lends Candela his car and she drives the women to the river that borders Portugal.

Manuela and Fritz hit it-with the scene being transposed in to the Yew forest, and Candela hooks up with Edgar the son of the real mine owner whom is parachuted in by the Brits to help sabotage the mine.

There is much tragedy in the movie but there is a happy ending. I don’t want to give too much away but I found the movie engaging and so beautiful, I think the characters are well written and I enjoyed them. All in all a really well done move-it didn’t get great reviews but I liked it.

The movie is also based on the Touza sisters from Ribadavia who helped more than 400 Jewish escapees to make it to Portugal.