Captain Alatriste

Synopsis

In the imperial Spain of the Golden Age , Captain Diego Alatriste, a soldier in the service of King Philip IV (penultimate king of the House of Austria ), fought on the Flanders front during the Thirty Years War . His comrade in arms, Lope Balboa, is seriously injured in a Dutch ambush. Before dying, Balboa made Alatriste promise that he would watch over his son, Iñigo, and keep him out of the soldier’s life.

Upon his return from the United Provinces , Diego finds himself in Madrid in a declining political empire despite the great Spanish literary and artistic vitality. Philip IV, monarch lacking charisma, is manipulated by a corrupt court dominated by the count-duke of Olivares who enjoys the support of the Inquisition.

There, Alatriste tries to win as best as life as a mercenary. He is responsible for killing, with the help of the Italian Gualderio Malatesta, two foreigners passing through Madrid. However, sensing that this is a questionable act, the Captain decides to spare the lives of the two men.

Later learning the identity of the men to be slaughtered, namely the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Buckingham , he quickly understands that he will have to face violent reprisals from the higher spheres of Spain.

In his adventures, he will not fight alone and will be helped by the beautiful Maria de Castro, mistress of Philip IV, by his inseparable fellow soldiers and, of course, by Iñigo Balboa, who has become practically his son of adoption ^1 , 2 .

Technical sheet

• Original title: Alatriste .
• Director: Agustín Díaz Yanes .
• Scenario: Agustín Díaz Yanes , after Arturo Pérez-Reverte .
• Producers: Alvaro Augustín , Antonio Cardenal .
• Director of photography: Paco Femenia .
• Editing: Jose Salcedo .
• Music: Roque Baños .
• Distribution: Metropolitan FilmExport .
• Budget: € 24,000,000 ³
• Country: Spain
• Duration: 145 minutes.

Distribution

• Viggo Mortensen (VF: Bernard Gabay ) : Captain Diego Alatriste and Tenorio .
• Javier Cámara : Gaspar de Guzmán, Count of Olivares .
• Eduardo Noriega : Count of Guadalmedina.
• Juan Echanove : the writer Francisco de Quevedo .
• Unax Ugalde : Íñigo de Balboa, Alatriste page.
• Elena Anaya : Angelica de Alquezar, the queen’s maiden.
• Nadia from Santiago : Angélica de Alquézar, at the age of 14.
• Nacho Pérez : Íñigo de Balboa, young man.
• Ariadna Gil : Marie de Castro, theater actress.
• Francesc Garrido : the bailiff Martín Saldaña (replaced by Antonio Resines after he suffered an accident that prevented him from participating).
• Eduard Fernández : Sebastián Copons, friend of the captain.
• Blanca Portillo : an inquisitor, Brother Emilio Bocanegra. Although the director knew that this role should in principle be interpreted by a man.
• Paco All : General Francisco de Melo .
• Jesús Castejón : Luis de Alquézar.
• Enrico Lo Verso : Gualterio Malatesta, an Italian swinger.
• Pilar López de Ayala : woman of Malatesta.
• Antonio Dechent : Boulot le Gourdin, a colleague of Alatriste.
• Pilar Bardem : religious.
• Álex O’Dogherty : Lope Balboa.
• Arturo Perez-Reverte : ( Cameo ).

Home Review

The reception of the film seems to have been mixed in several countries.

In France, Captain Alatriste receives a lukewarm reception in the press. Accessed at the end of 2017, Allociné’s aggregator-rated website gives the film a score of 2.7 out of 5 based on 14 titles ⁴ . Most critics accuse the film of its chaotic scenario and its sometimes heavy historical statement. The quality of Viggo Mortensen’s game divides critics. The sets and costumes, however, are the subject of compliments.

In the United States, in the Hollywood Reporter , the American critic Michael Rechtshaffen indicates ⁵ : “the novel by Arturo Perez-Reverte comes to life vivaciously in this epic film superbly shot, although at uneven pace. ” In the magazine Variety ⁵ , Jonathan Holland gives a generally unfavorable criticism when he too criticizes the movie’s script, he too episodic and overloaded judge; he appreciates however the visual qualities of the film as well as the performance of the Spanish actors.

Box office

During its exploitation in cinemas, Captain Alatriste accumulates approximately 22 940 000 dollars of receipts in the world, a rate of profitability of 96% ⁶ .

Awards

The film won 3 Goyas Awards in 2007 ⁷ , in the categories “Best Costumes”, “Best Decorator” and “Best Producer”.

Notes and references