Sunday 4 August 2019

NZIFF Film Review: "The Realm" ("El reino") (2018).


"Kings fall. Kingdom survive." This is The Realm (El reino). This Spanish political thriller film directed and written by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Manuel López-Vidal is a beloved politician in his region: he enjoys a good social position, has a loving family, friends everywhere and plenty of natural charisma. He is also a corrupt man who has been enriching himself with public funds for years. After attempting to cover up for an associate, Manuel is left exposed. To his surprise, the Party’s members seek to place the blame for the entire plot on his shoulders. But he will not surrender. How far is a person willing to go in order to hold on to power?

The film stars Antonio de la Torre, Mónica López, Josep Maria Pou, Bárbara Lennie, Nacho Fresneda, Ana Wagener, Luis Zahera, Francisco Reyes, and María de Nati. The strong cast gave magnificent performances and presented an ethical portrait of politicians; protagonists of corruption, arrogance, vindictiveness, filth and moral decrepitude. Del la Torre particularly gave an exciting performance, where the protagonist really stands out. The film pits him against the world, with only his character's wit. The movie is virtually an anthology of good small character performances. The large gallery of characters makes the film into a convincing canvas, but with a screenplay that developed the story more clearly, this might have been a superior movie, instead of just a good one with some fine performances. It's the performances that make up for a largely uninspired, overly complex, and long movie that nonetheless maintains audience interest.

 With The Realm, Sorogoyen presents an unsettling, minimalist meditation on the hidden dangers of politics, which signals its director as someone who's already marked out his own distinctive style. It's The Firm (1993), but more political and Spanish. Although, the film is soft and lumpy in its plotting and almost silly at times. What starts out as interesting becomes increasingly hokey and silly - where it should be intense and suspenseful. The plot brings up a lot of question that are never really answered.  This is a professional machine of a movie that compresses huge amounts of information into its two and a half hours of screen time. But it's so weighed down by detail, it fails to generate any real suspense. Is this a thriller? You've never scene a 'suspense film' drag its heels so deplorably, enlivened only by some colourful character acting. The film is never boring, but it never really sparkles either. Sorogoyen makes a solid job of it, as does De la Torre  But solid isn't enough when it comes to political thrillers for that matter. Solid is great when it comes to the sets. Nonetheless, it is a moderately entertaining thriller that is well made and exciting with some thought-provoking morality play, even though it does not cover tremendously new territory, nor does it have a lot of substance. It's an everyday political thriller, but a pure and asphyxiating thriller that portrays Spain as a stifling and tormented country.

Simon says The Realm (El reino) receives:



Also, see my NZIFF review for The Nightingale.

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