"A Secret Life" is about the republican "moles" forced to hide for decades to escape the Franco dictatorship. The film was inspired by the life of Manuel Cortés, mayor of Mijas, Malaga, during the Second Spanish Republic. He lived in hiding at home for thirty years and his journey was recounted in the documentary "30 years of darkness" by Manuel H. Martín, 2011. 
The story
Spain 1936. Higirio Blanco, tailor and city councillor, has just married Rosa. He was a Republican partisan and when Franco's troops approached his city, he knew his life was threatened. Indeed, he was rounded up by the Falangists but managed to escape. From then on, he decides by mutual agreement with Rosa to take refuge in the house she inherited and not to leave it as long as the dictator is in place. The couple remained cloistered there for thirty-three years. (Wikipedia)
Technical fact sheet
Original title: La trinchera infinita Director: Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño, Jose Mari Goenaga Screenplay: Luiso Berdejo, Jose Mari Goenaga Country of production: Spain, France Genre: Drama Duration: 147 minutes Release: 2019 Cast: Antonio de la Torre , Belén Cuesta
Impressions
It is not clear if this film really reflects this terrible period that was Francoism. If you have ever spoken to people who have lived through this era, you will be able to see the excellent performance of this huge actor who is Antonio de la Torre Martin. His eyes, his gestures, are invaded by the same fear. What emerges from him settles us directly in an atmosphere of dictatorship and atrocities. If we compare "A Secret Life" to the Korean film "Alive", we realize that the plot, the journey, the result, are exactly the same. More than a zombie movie, "Alive" presents itself as a story where the main character is attacked by an external cause. Alone, he must find the solution that will allow him to survive. To do this, he can only barricade himself. Zombies are just an excuse. A reason to develop the loneliness and distress of a person forced to hide. 
We could add the same comment for "La trinchera infinita" translated into English as "A secret life" but which actually means The Infinite Trench. A trench that never ends. The title in French focuses more on the character while the title in Spanish directly evokes a war situation where one must hide. We could divide the film into three parts, four if we count the end. "A Secret Life" begins with chases filmed with skill by a camera on the shoulder. Enough to make you dizzy, certainly, but it intensifies this fear of being caught. The anxiety, the fear, the perspiration, the frightened eyes of the cornered animal… All the elements are densified by these jerky images. This is an introduction that contrasts with the numbness of the second part. 
Rosa and Higinio have just gotten married. They need to get to know each other inside their homes. The foreground makes the space narrower, as well as their relationship. The closed session is suffocating. Love begins to chip without really touching their complicity. It is then that the third part of the film, and probably the most important, takes place. The paranoia, the black fear, the loneliness of a man locked up for years, all accentuated by much more regular foregrounds. This meticulous description of this man's desperate situation makes us realize that we have arrived at the ultimate goal of the film. It is above all the story of a man who will do anything not to die. He could have been locked up because of a disability, the Nazis, or those famous zombies. But what matters is the representation, in every detail, of fear in the form of this man who fears being shot. His resources, his reactions, his addiction, his anger, his mistrust, his suspicion. We live with him this long period of 30 years that may seem inconceivable to us, but that we will rather describe as surprising, insofar as this film is based on a true story. The director manages subtly and almost delicately, to convey to us the atmosphere, the heaviness of a dictatorship that is still present in all those who, like me, lived it during our childhood. Touching, beautiful. 
