304. The Whistlers; movie review

THE WHISTLERS
Cert 15
98 mins
BBFC advice: Contains  strong bloody violence, sex, sexual threat

We go on holidays to the Canary Islands every year for a winter break so we were drawn in by the prospect of the first movie we had ever seen based there.
Ok, La Gomera is one of the two islands we haven't visited but we had empathy, particularly when we realised that Corneliu Porumboiu's film highlighted its fabled language.
Yes, natives to La Gomera have indeed communicated for centuries by whistling. Needless to say, Mrs W tried to copy the way it is done by blowing after inserting figures into our mouths and failed miserably.
Unfortunately, the need to whistle becomes lost in a plot which is more confusing than any I can recall in recent times.
The Whistlers focus is Cristi (Vlad Ivanov), a Romanian police inspector who plays both sides of the law in his home city of Bucharest.
After some persuasion, he agrees to embark on a high-stakes double-cross heist with the beautiful Gilda (Catrinel Marlon).
This means they will have to deceive both professional criminals and law enforcement agencies and part of the intricate plot is the learning of the secret whistling language of La Gomera.

Much of the movie sees the disintegration of any morals which Cristi may have had, professionally or personally.

But how much will he be able to control his new surroundings and not risk being bumped off by either side?
The problem is that The Whistlers jumps around so much that Mrs W and I were regularly questioning each other on what we thought was happening.
Disappointingly, the answer was often: "I've no idea."
The action flicks too quickly from La Gomera to Bucharest and back again and minor characters are introduced with such speed it is difficult to understand which side they stand.
That's a shame because the movie looks good and had a decent premise but the final execution is muddy.

Reasons to watch: Has the premise of a fascinating thriller
Reasons to avoid: Is very confusing

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 4.5/10

Did you know? Other whistled languages exist or existed in such parts of the world as Turkey, France, Mexico, South America, India, Nepal, New Guinea, West Africa, Southern Africa and Eastern Africa.

The final word. Corneliu Porumboiu: "I saw a documentary on TV about La Gomera, the island in Spain. From that, I learned about the language of whistling and became very curious. That was 10 years ago. I started to read about the language, and I went to the island where they were teaching it." Slant

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