Dhruv Sharma
‘The Endless Trench’ revolves around a man, who, because of his own fear of reprisal, locks himself up in his home, with his wife being his only external contact to the war-torn world outside. But little does he know that he won’t be going anywhere for the next 33 years. Although it is set in the backdrop of war, ‘The Endless Trench’ is more about the fear and solitude a man faces when he is forced to completely cut himself off from the world. Despite being asphyxiated with his confined lifestyle, his agoraphobia forces him to stay where he is for a prolonged period of time.
The performances of the two leads make the film extremely captivating, however, more than that, it’s the whole setup of the movie that makes it realistic and intriguing. The entire film is shown from the perspective of the protagonist who heavily relies on audio cues to figure out what’s going on around him. And because of this, ‘The Endless Trench’ does not really walk you through several different filming locations. It, instead, emphasizes the external stimuli experienced by the main character and helps you understand what’s going on in his head and also in the world outside his cramped surroundings. Even so, if you’re wondering where the filming of the movie has taken place, read on further to know everything about it.
Where Was The Endless Trench Filmed?
Set amid the Spanish War, ‘The Endless Trench’ portrays more of a personal experience of a couple who are forced to keep their own existence a big secret. Although, for the most part, it is a work of fiction, it still holds a lot of similarities and symbolism in context with Spain’s past and present political scenario. That’s probably one big reason why the entire film has been shot locally and unlike many other similar movies out there, it does not span across several different locations. Even when it comes to the main premise of the film, it confines it to a very limited setup of the Hispanic nation that focuses solely on the trials of a couple because of the war.
Here’s a picture of the cast of the film at the Festival de San Sebastian:
Higuera de la Sierra, Huelva, Spain
Higuera de la Sierra is a tiny village located in the north-east of the Huelva province. It is popularly known for its Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos, which are traditional parade with floats carrying the noblemen of the region. Being almost 100 years old, it is one of the oldest villages in Spain and has close to 1400 inhabitants currently. The village perfectly reflects on the setup that is portrayed in the film and along with that, to effectively depict the passage of time, the film also uses localized radio clips.
Euskadi, Spain
In an interview, one of the three directors of the film, José María Goenaga, recalled that they came up with the idea of creating this film much before they started filming another historical drama titled ‘Handia.’ In contrast to ‘Handia,’ where the main character of the film travels to several different locations, the director had initially planned that ‘The Endless Trench’ would be a pretty small movie in context with its characters and locations. Adding to this, he also claimed that despite its small setup, the filming was still pretty complicated and because of the co-production between the Basque Country and Andalusia, it was being shot by two different teams.
Here’s another picture of the two leading actors, Belén Cuesta and Antonio de la Torre, from the film’s set:
