Película, 11th Spanish Film Festival Opening Night

The body count might have piled up in the film No habrá paz para los malvados (No Rest for the Wicked), and the audience might have been put aback by how dark this film was. But it still proved to be a successful opening for the 11^th edition of Película, the Spanish Film Festival presented by Instituto Cervantes. The opening film set the tone on how dark this year’s festival would be which was held at Greenbelt 3.

Spanish Ambassador Jorge Domecq and wife Rosa don 3D glasses

Before the film No habrá paz para los malvados was screened, invited guests enjoyed the food and wine served at the cocktails area set up right in front of the Greenbelt 3 Cinemas. There were also two gigantic Sony Bravia television sets on display in the area where people could don 3D glasses and see for themselves how awesome they are. Even Spanish Ambassador Jorge Domecq and his wife Rosa, took the time to check out the 3D television set.

No habrá paz para los malvados/No Rest for the Wicked

The opening film for this year’s Película was No habrá paz para los malvados or No Rest for the Wicked. A winner of six Goya Awards (the Spanish equivalent of the Academy Awards), this film directed by Enrique Urbizu tells the imagined back story leading towards Madrid’s 2004 terrorist bombing. In the movie, the bombing stemmed from police inspector Santos Trinidad’s (José Coronado) night of indiscretion when he killed three people in a bar. Wanting to keep the lid on things, he goes on the trail of the lone witness and Trinidad ends up entangled with a much bigger case dealing with Islamic terrorists. The film is a chilling tale on how saving one’s hide could blind someone from seeing the bigger and more important picture. Yes, Trinidad was able to find who he was looking for and dealt with him, but he paid the ultimate price and left more questions than answers.

I’ve always liked films, television series, novels and comic books about police procedures. But this film was truly dark with a character Trinidad whom I found so hard to root for. And also, during this time, I was dealing also with the sudden loss of someone I know which made this film difficult to absorb. I went to the opening hoping to find a distraction but the film itself dragged me back to the feeling that I would rather forget even for just a couple of hours.

This movie won a total of six Goya Awards including the big ones for Best Film, Best Director for Enrique Urbizu, Best Actor for José Coronado and Best Original Original Screenplay for Enrique Urbizu and Michel Gaztambide. I think that having this film tie up with a tragic moment in Spain’s recent history made the movie resonate more with the Spanish audience. And for the Filipinos who watched the film, including myself, we were only left to imagine how strong the impact of this work could be to those who still remember the bombings in Madrid back in 2004.

FDCP Chairman Briccio Santos

Unfortunately, numerous other events and projects prevented me to go back to Greenbelt to see more of the film. I failed to see and meet director Alberto Rodríguez. I also wasn’t able to go to the Argentinean Night when they screened Dos hermanos (Two Siblings) and Un cuento chino (A Chinese Tall Tale). And that also meant that I have to be satisfied with reading Arrugas, the comicbook when I finally get my copy of it. I really wish that I was able to see more but I guess that seeing two dark films, Grupo 7 (Unit 7) and No habrá paz para los malvados (No Rest for the Wicked) is better than seeing nothing at all. But Película is just a part of the month long celebrations known as ¡Fiesta!, the Spanish Festival for Culture and the Arts. That means that I can still catch up with more Spanish and Latin American culture (especially music) before the month ends.