Sad Hill Unearthed

There is a valley in Burgos. In 1966 a cemetery was built there; Spanish soldiers set thousands of grave markers and a film was shot. Then everything was left. Over fifty years the grass grew, the stones were buried and the place disappeared. In 2015 a group of enthusiasts decide to dig it out again. They have spades, no budget and a very large job. They raise help online; they sell names on the grave markers. Years of work begin. The documentary describes the work and why they are doing it. Guillermo de Oliveira directs. The group carrying out the dig, people from the film crew and enthusiasts speak in it. It is a Spanish production. Clint Eastwood and Ennio Morricone appear in the documentary. The cemetery it concerns was built for the last scene of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, one of the best known passages in film history. The matter it treats is the mark a film leaves in people; for the diggers it is more than nostalgia. The documentary also tells the history of the westerns shot in Spain; a great many productions came to the region in that period. The narrative talks to local people as well; surviving soldiers who built the cemetery are found. The film shows the restoration step by step and the result appears on screen. Its limit is its narrow scope; the narrative is tied to one place and is too much for anyone who does not know the subject. Who it is for: lovers of the western and viewers looking for film history documentary. Who it is not for: the subject is narrow, it is aimed at enthusiasts, and the ending sentimental.