Bosque de sombras (2006)

Director:

Koldo Serra

Writers:

Jon Sagalá (writer)
Koldo Serra (writer)

Release Date:

16 February 2007 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

An English couple's holiday in Spain is interrupted when they discover a girl imprisoned in a cabin.

Plot Keywords:

Couple | Hands | Cabin | 1970s | Deformity

Cast

Gary Oldman	...	Paul
Paddy Considine	...	Norman
Aitana Sánchez-Gijón	...	Isabel
Virginie Ledoyen	...	Lucy
Lluís Homar	...	Paco
Yaiza Esteve	...	Nerea
Andrés Gertrúdix	...	Antonio
Jon Ariño	...	Lechón
Kandido Uranga	...	Miguel
Álex Angulo	...	Jose Andrés
Savitri Ceballos	...	Jose Andrés' daughter
Patxi Bisquert	...	José Luis
José Andrés Zalguegui	...	Bar Tender
Ramón Churruca	...	Ignacio
Isabel Jiménez	...	Waitress

Directed by
Koldo Serra

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jon Sagalá		writer
Koldo Serra		writer

Produced by
Guillaume Benski	....	producer
Gavin Emerson	....	co-producer
Julio Fernández	....	producer
Aitor Lizarralde	....	producer
Pablo Mehler	....	producer
Iker Monfort	....	producer
Antonia Nava	....	co-executive producer
Ander Sistiaga	....	line producer
Jolyon Symonds	....	producer
Guadalupe Balaguer Trelles	....	associate producer
Douglas Urbanski	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Fernando Velázquez

Cinematography by
Unax Mendía

Film Editing by
Javier Ruiz Caldera		(as Javier Ruiz)

Production Design by
Josh Fifarek

Art Direction by
Juanjo Gracia
Mario Suances

Costume Design by
Josune Lasa

Makeup Department
Oscar del Monte	....	special makeup effects artist
Nacho Díaz	....	special makeup effects artist
Katy Fray	....	makeup designer
Daniel Izar de la Fuente	....	special makeup effects technician
Pepe Mora	....	special makeup effects artist
Jean-Jacques Puchu	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Mari Arnedo	....	assistant production manager
Teresa Gefaell	....	production supervisor
Jesús L. Pérez Villar	....	post-production manager
Guadalupe Balaguer Trelles	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alfonso Nogueroles	....	third assistant director
Walter Prieto	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Josh Fifarek	....	set designer
Koldo Serra	....	storyboard artist

Sound Department
Eduardo G. Castro	....	sound editing assistant
Spencer Eagles	....	sound
Michel Filippi	....	adr supervisor
Patrick Ghislain	....	foley recordist
Julien Martin	....	foley recording engineer
Marc Orts	....	sound re-recording mixer
Nacho Royo	....	sound editor

Special Effects by
Anthony S. Ciccarelli	....	special effects technician
Pau Costa	....	special effects coordinator
Javier Jal	....	special effects technician
Javier H. Moneo	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Ricardo G. Elipe	....	visual effects supervisor
Javier Hernanz Zajara	....	software engineer
Iñigo Remacha	....	visual effects
Pablo Urrutia	....	visual effects supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
David Acereto	....	camera operator
Manuel Álvarez	....	first assistant camera
Eva Aycart	....	second assistant camera
Tucker Davila Wood	....	epk (as Tucker Dávila Wood)
José Haro	....	still photographer
Josu Martínez Chamorro	....	epk (as Josu Martínez)
Gorka Rotaetxe	....	Steadicam operator
Juanjo Sánchez	....	Steadicam operator
Rachid Talid	....	Steadicam assistant
Josu Ubiria	....	trainee camera
Marc Vigil	....	epk

Casting Department
Andrea Clark	....	casting
Jeremy Zimmerman	....	casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Estíbaliz Gabilondo	....	wardrobe
Gemma Rodríguez	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Javier Mosqueda	....	film conformist
George Koran	....	colorist (uncredited)

Music Department
Isobel Griffiths	....	orchestra contractor

Other crew
Alberto Marini	....	script consultant
Helena Moreno Núñez	....	development executive
Elena Serra	....	development executive
Koldo Serra	....	web site designer (as Dr. Phibes)
Jorge Tuca	....	head of development
Manuel Yebra	....	assistant to co-executive producer

Thanks
Mikel Clemente	....	thanks
Borja Cobeaga	....	thanks
Borja Crespo	....	thanks
Nahikari Ipiña	....	thanks
Josu Martínez Chamorro	....	thanks (as Josu Martínez)
Manolo Royo	....	thanks
Jon Sagalá	....	thanks
Nacho Vigalondo	....	thanks
Marc Vigil	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Divine Productions
• Filmax
• Holy Cow Films
• Montfort Producciones
• Videntia Frames

Distributors

• Filmax S.A. (2006) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Lionsgate (2007) (USA) (theatrical)
• 21st Century Pictures (2007) (Australia) (DVD)
• Albatros Film (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Canal+ (2007) (France) (TV)
• Future Film (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Lionsgate (2006) (USA) (all media)
• Lionsgate (2007) (Canada) (all media)
• Movie Bank (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD) (rental)
• New Select (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2007) (Argentina) (DVD)
• e-m-s the DVD-Company (2007) (Germany) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Kinema Digital (digital grading)
• Kinema Digital (visual effects)

Also Known As:

BackWoods (International: English title)
The Backwoods (France)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK | France | Spain

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA (2006) | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:18 | Spain:18 | Singapore:M18 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Navarra, Spain

Company:

Divine Productions

Quotes:

Norman: I'm just trying to think!
Paul: Don't think! Let me think for both of us!

Movie Connections:

References "Little House on the Prairie" (1974)

Soundtrack:

Lover, lover, lover

Okay, here's why it gets a ten

First, what's wrong with it. Aside from Cohen's wonderful song, the sound and music were poor and didn't add anything. The cinematography was not particularly inventive or inspiring.

But still a 10.

Why?

Okay you have to catch what this excellent writing is up to.

The twist at the end is pure and righteous symmetry.

It's about justice and revenge, an atypical and furious interpretation of right and wrong. It's got a piece of The Unforgiven about it.

It posits that some things just can't be fixed, and that the penalty does often indeed involve even more suffering of the innocent.

All the acting is excellent. The direction is excellent.

The writing is difficult, twisted, demanding, and wonderful, hard to grasp at first, hard to at first grasp, even at the end. But within it's own pained logic of warfare, just.

The heroic transformation is really spectacularly fierce in that the delivery of justice and punishment requires such a high price to be paid by the destroyed innocent, and the hero, that it at first doesn't even seem like justice.... but it sinks in, that it is.

Sure, it has deliberate echos of Deliverance, but it's actually much more sinister and indirectly more disturbing, not just to personal safety, but to our perception of right and wrong, and justice, punishment, and revenge.

It reminds me in some ways of Death and the Maiden.

It could have almost been a stage piece.

If it wasn't low budget and foreign, with non-U.S.-well-known writing and directing, and with higher "production values", it would have made big stink here.

Or maybe not. Us Americans are often so dull about clear winning and losing, that they get lost in movies like this. Our loss.

Oh, and I want to thank Gary Oldman for taking a shot at this. I wouldn't have known about it or seen it with him, and I thank him for roping me in!

God only knows what great stuff I miss from not having the time to watch everything! I wish I could clone myself and have them watch it so, I would have reviews I could trust! ;)