I can’t whistle. Never really could, and have always marveled at those who can so easily. But did you know there’s an entire “secret” Spanish language, Silbo Gomero, based on whistling at different registers to communicate information? Neither did I, but it’s a crucial part of the Romanian crime film, The Whistlers, which has dropped a new trailer.
A Cannes favorite and Palme d’Or contender, The Whistlers centers on a group looking to pull off a high-stakes heist, but needing that one special thing to put them over the top. How learning to communicate through a secret whistling language originated in the Canary Islands? Would that maybe help?
SYNOPSIS: Not everything is as it seems for Cristi, a police inspector in Bucharest who plays both sides of the law. Embarked by the beautiful Gilda on a high-stakes heist, both will have to navigate the twists and turns of treachery and deception. A secret whistling language spoken on the Spanish island of La Gomera might just be what they need to pull it off.
The film is directed by Corneliu Porumboiu, whose previous film The Treasure was an award winner at Cannes in 2015.
The Whistlers opens on February 20th 2020, and is Romania’s entry for the Academy Awards Best International Feature category. I feel like this one is just begging for an American remake someday.
