Movie of the Week: “The Invisible Guardian”
I am often asked by my readers about why one movie succeeds and another does not. I always have the answer by heart: to make a good movie, more important than spending millions on special effects is to have a good story, good script, good direction and good acting. This is the case of “The Invisible Guardian” (“El guardián invisible”, ESP / ALE, 2017), based on the book of the same name by Dolores Redondo.
“The Invisible Guardian” is a police story of the sub-genre serial killer, but with touches of fantasy and a freshness of novelty, showing a part little known of Spain, the Basque Country, with its own culture and traditions, that make the book and the film very interesting.
In a remote and mountainous region of northeastern Spain, in the valley dominated by the river Baztan, the body of a young woman murdered is found. The victim, a teenager, is found in the forest, on the bank of the river, naked, with shaven pubis, with hands imitating the images of Mother Mary, and with a common candy in the region deposited on the sex.
This is the situation where Amaia Salazar (Marta Etura), the inspector for the homicide section of the spanish police, is in charge of investigating the case. The inspector was originally from the town of Elizondo, where the crime had occurred, but she had left the city a long time before, and had never returned.
Upon arriving, Amaia discovers that a similar crime had occurred a month before, and the blame was attributed to the boyfriend of the victim. As the characteristics were very similar, the police soon concluded that it was a serial killer, and that other people were in danger.
In fact, another murder occurs soon after, with another teenager and with the same morbid ritual of presenting the body.By a distortion of the press, the criminal is dubbed basajaun, who is a mysterious being of Basque mythology, a mixture of Bigfoot with brazilian Curupira, and who would be a protector of the forest.
While dealing with the investigation of the murders, Amaia also has to manage the family relationship, since her own personal history contains a horrible tragedy linked to her mother, a fact that had never been totally solved.
The plot is dense and complex, and the clues to the crimes permeate Amaia’s family environment, involving the rigid and rough sister Flora (Elvira Minguez), the suffering middle sister Rosaura (Patricia Lopez), brothers-in-law Freddy (Mikel Losada) and Victor (Quique Gago), besides the sweet aunt Engrasi (Itziar Aizpuru).
Some people seems to disrupt investigations, such as Sub-Inspector Fermín Montés (Francesc Orella), while Amaia’s faithful assistant, Jonan Extaide (Carlos Librado) uses all his academic knowledge to help to unravel the case.
Although it has few action scenes, such as we are used to see to in Hollywood movies, “The Invisible Guardian” brings its dose of emotions, but, above all else, the plot is enriched by mysticism and supernatural touches, without ever slipping into the common place.
The cinematography of the film, which is fantastic, highlights the exotic landscape of the region, and the beautiful soundtrack of Fernando Velázquez completes the ambience for this film so different from what we are used to watch.
The original book is equally complex and engaging, but has been beautifully adapted to movie language, with the story converted into a fluid and complete script.Two new stories with the same heroine that make up the Baztan Trilogy, “the Legacy of the Bones” and “Offering to the Storm” are due to be adapted for the movies in 2019.
“The Invisible Guardian” is a different film, aimed for people who likes the police genre, but at the same time shows drama features in a product quite different from Hollywood ones. And, the best is that it can be found on Netflix, since it was not released in theaters outside of Spain.
Original title: “El guardián invisible”