1898: Our Last Men in the Philippines

The Philippines, 1898. Spain is about to lose its colonial war. A small detachment is sent to a town called Baler: fifty or so soldiers and a church. Local forces surround the town and the soldiers shut themselves in the church. Months pass. The food runs out, sickness spreads and no word comes from outside. Then those besieging them say something: the war is over, Spain has withdrawn, you are no longer here. The officer does not believe it and refuses to surrender. The siege lasts three hundred and thirty seven days. Salvador Calvo directs. Luis Tosar, Javier Gutiérrez and Karra Elejalde are in the cast. The story is real. The siege of Baler is a known event in Spain and the men there were later spoken of as the last soldiers of a war already lost. The film's view is not heroic; the stubbornness of those holding out is given not as a virtue but as a disaster. Colonialism is treated directly: most of the soldiers do not know why they are there and the command insists in order to preserve its own authority. The interior of the church carries most of the narrative; the claustrophobia and the sickness are shown in detail. It took many of the Spanish film awards. Who it is for: viewers who like historical war films and siege narratives. Who it is not for: it is heavy, repetitive, and the other side is given too little room.