Crime movie used whistling language El Silbo as a plot element

[Tilde]

Caught some of the ending of this. Dunno
how accurate it might be. Clever, though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whistlers_(film)

The Whistlers (Spanish: La Gomera) is a
2019 crime black comedy thriller film
directed by Corneliu Porumboiu and
starring Vlad Ivanov.

Zsolt, a corrupt businessman in Bucharest
in league with Spanish gangsters, has been
smuggling drug money out of the country in
mattresses. Among those on his payroll are
his mistress, the glamorous Gilda, and
Cristi, a police inspector whose payoffs
are left in his mother's cellar. When Zsolt
is arrested, the Spaniards concoct a plot
to free both him and the latest
mattressfuls of cash. Cristi will be
seduced by Gilda and taken to the Spanish
island of La Gomera to learn El Silbo, the
native whistling language. Back in Bucharest,
he will then poison Zsolt, who will be rushed
to hospital under guard. Once Cristi has
ascertained the room number, he will whistle
it to Gilda outside and the Spaniards will
then rescue Zsolt. Many things go wrong and
most characters get killed while Cristi,
badly injured, ends up in hospital. Gilda
finds out the room number and whistles to
him to join her at a hotel in Singapore.

[Christian Weisgerber]

Post by Tilde
Caught some of the ending of this. Dunno
how accurate it might be. Clever, though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whistlers_(film)

I tracked it down and watched the on the whole rather forgettable
movie last night. The end credits include an "El Silbo Consultant
and Coach" as well as three El Silbo whistlers. About a third of
the way in, there is also a scene where they explain that it is a
code, not a language, how the Spanish vowels and consonants are
mapped to two and four whistles, respectively, and how they squeeze
the additional two vowels and two consonants of Romanian into the
system.

I might as well copy the blackboard displayed in the movie:

A = a, o, u, (ă)
I = i, e, (î)
CH = ch, t, s, (ț, ș)
Y = d, n, l, y, r, ñ, ll, rr
K = p, k
G = b, f, m, g, j

So Cristi, the corrupt Romanian cop on the inside, whistles a message
in Romanian, and femme fatale Gilda translates and whistles it in
Spanish to the Spanish henchmen.

This is principally a Romanian movie, so most of the dialogue is
in Romanian, with some Spanish, plus English as the obligatory
lingua franca to bridge the language divide. I noticed that Romanian
is full of French loanwords. Formally, the movie is a
Romanian-French-German co-production and there is some contorted
international casting: Catrinel Marlon (Gilda) is Romanian, but her
previous acting credits are all in Italy. Sabin Tambrea (Zsolt),
who looked oddly familiar, turns out to be German with Romanian
parents. Antonio Buíl (Kiko) splits his acting between Spain and
French-speaking Switzerland.

Post by Tilde
Many things go wrong and
most characters get killed while Cristi,
badly injured, ends up in hospital. Gilda
finds out the room number and whistles to
him to join her at a hotel in Singapore.

Unless he's just pretending, Cristi's injury has caused him to lose
his ability to speak, but he can still communicate in Silbo. Which
doesn't make sense from a linguistic/neurological point of view, I
think. Apparently the filmmakers had some money left, so they
actually shot the final scene in Singapore.

[Tilde]

Post by Christian Weisgerber

Post by Tilde
Caught some of the ending of this. Dunno
how accurate it might be. Clever, though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whistlers_(film)

I tracked it down and watched the on the whole rather forgettable

You had more patience than I did ;)

Post by Christian Weisgerber
movie last night. The end credits include an "El Silbo Consultant
and Coach" as well as three El Silbo whistlers. About a third of
the way in, there is also a scene where they explain that it is a
code, not a language, how the Spanish vowels and consonants are
mapped to two and four whistles, respectively, and how they squeeze
the additional two vowels and two consonants of Romanian into the
system.
A = a, o, u, (ă)
I = i, e, (î)
CH = ch, t, s, (ț, ș)
Y = d, n, l, y, r, ñ, ll, rr
K = p, k
G = b, f, m, g, j
So Cristi, the corrupt Romanian cop on the inside, whistles a message
in Romanian, and femme fatale Gilda translates and whistles it in
Spanish to the Spanish henchmen.
This is principally a Romanian movie, so most of the dialogue is
in Romanian, with some Spanish, plus English as the obligatory
lingua franca to bridge the language divide. I noticed that Romanian
is full of French loanwords. Formally, the movie is a
Romanian-French-German co-production and there is some contorted
international casting: Catrinel Marlon (Gilda) is Romanian, but her
previous acting credits are all in Italy. Sabin Tambrea (Zsolt),
who looked oddly familiar, turns out to be German with Romanian
parents. Antonio Buíl (Kiko) splits his acting between Spain and
French-speaking Switzerland.

Thanks for all that. My sympathies.

Post by Christian Weisgerber

Post by Tilde
Many things go wrong and
most characters get killed while Cristi,
badly injured, ends up in hospital. Gilda
finds out the room number and whistles to
him to join her at a hotel in Singapore.

Unless he's just pretending, Cristi's injury has caused him to lose
his ability to speak, but he can still communicate in Silbo. Which
doesn't make sense from a linguistic/neurological point of view, I
think. Apparently the filmmakers had some money left, so they
actually shot the final scene in Singapore.

Qwik lookup - Dysarthria? Then there's stuttering
and singing, some stutterers can sing.