User Reviews

Operación Ogro ("Operation Ogre") was the name given by ETA to the assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco, the then Prime Minister of Spain in 1973 and the successor of Francisco Franco , the then Spanish dictator . Over five months, a group formed by Izarra (Gian Maria Volontè) , Iker (José Sacristán) , Amaiur (Ángela Molina) , Txabi (Eusebio Poncela) , Luque (Saverio Marconi) dug a tunnel under the street - telling the porter (Estanis Gonzalez) that they were student sculptors to disguise their real purpose . The tunnel was packed with 80 kg of explosives that had been stolen from a Government depot . The blast sent Luis Carrero Blanco (Agapito Romo who bears remarkable resemblance) and his car 20 metres (66 ft) into the air and over a five-storey building . The car crashed to the ground on the opposite side of a Jesuit college, landing on the second-floor balcony .

This is a 1979 Spanish and Italian drama film that contains intense drama , suspense , thrills and political events . All the actors , give portentous interpretations , they form a mix of Spaniards and Italians, spoke Spanish in the dubbed version released in Spain , and in Italian in the dubbed Italian version . The picture packs nice special effects by Emilio Ruiz Del Rio with splendid car blast balancing up and down . In addition , a thrilling and evocative musical score by the great Ennio Morricone . The film won the David Di Donatello (an annual Italian motion picture award) for Best Film .

The motion picture was compellingly written and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo . Being Gillo Pontecorvo's last feature film . Although Gillo made fewer than 20 films, he is regarded as one of Italy's greatest directors . He moved to France in 1938 to escape Italy's fascist racial laws. He eventually returned to Italy and led a Resistance brigade during WWII. After the war, he studied chemistry and worked as a journalist before becoming a film director; he started out making documentaries . Gillo was born into a Jewish family , as he directed ¨Kapo¨ that was one of the first films about the theme of Jewish holocaust and one of the more realistic in its recreation . Gillo subsequently will directed the successful ¨Battle of Argel¨ and ¨Queimada¨ with Marlon Brando .

The film is based on true events, following the eponymous book by Julen Agirre (pseudonym of Eva Forest). These facts are the followings : An ETA commando group using the code name Txikia (after the nom de guerre of ETA activist Eustakio Mendizabal killed by the Guardia Civil in April 1973) rented a basement flat at Calle Claudio Coello 104, Madrid on the route over which Carrero Blanco used to go to Mass at San Francisco de Borja church . On 20 December 1973, a 3-man ETA commando group disguised as electricians detonated the explosives by command wire as Carrero Blanco's Dodge Dart passed. The explosion sent Carrero Blanco and his car 20 metres into the air and over a five-storey building. The car crashed down to the ground on the opposite side of a Jesuit college, landing on the second-floor balcony. Carrero Blanco survived the blast but died shortly afterwards. His bodyguard and driver were killed instantly . The "electricians" shouted to stunned passers-by that there had been a gas explosion, and subsequently escaped in the confusion . Carrero Blanco's death was a key step in the establishment of the terrorist organization , by eliminating Franco's choice of successor . The terrorist organization ETA brutally killed about one thousand people and acting similarly to Sicilian Mafia . The notorious writer Jon Juaristi explains that ETA's goal with this killing was not democratization but a spiral of violence to fully destabilize Spain, heighten Franco's repression against Basque nationalism and put the average Basque citizen in the situation where they would have had to accept the lesser evil in the form of ETA's reaction against Franco's unleashed repression .

This film is based on real life events that took place during 70's under Francos fascist regime in Spain.

Just like Gillo Pontecorvos previous film La battaglia di Algeri/The Battle of Algiers (1966) this film has very realistic, semi documentary feel, look about this depiction of terrorism acted out by group of members in the basque terrorist network ETA.

Even though Gillo Pontecorvo was a marxist this film does not only portray the fascist dictatorship but also contains subtle criticism against ETA and its struggle.

While being a very low key film, it packs very emotional, punch without becoming too obvious.

So viewers that liked O Que É Isso, Companheiro?/Four Days in September (1997), L'armée des ombres/ Army of Shadows(1969), Popiól i diament/Ashes and Diamonds (1958), Kanal/Canal (1957)etc should definitely check this film out.

A Basque student I am living with right now explained a rough background behind the story of this movie and it made the experience of seeing it a whole lot more enjoying. I was astonished at the quality this movie had, the acting, directing, pacing, all impeccable and on a very impressive level. The story itself is simple, but the movie's tag line should be enough an explanation-an explosion that changed the history of Spain. The finale had me on the edge of my seat and the way the director chose to show certain time lapses was also very wise because the ending of the story, which indeed Was relevant to the movie's story, doesn't leave a bitter taste.

I highly recommend this movie, but before seeing it just find some rough info about this fascinating true story, it'll make the experience a whole lot more satisfying. 9/10