1 post tagged “alatriste”
A couple of months ago, I became aware of a new film starring Viggo Mortensen. It was Alatriste, a Spanish movie adapted from a series of very popular novels by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte. I stumbled upon the trailer for the movie on YouTube and was fascinated by the look of the movie but one of the things that had me most transfixed was hearing Viggo Mortensen speaking fluent Spanish. I have been a fan of Viggo's since the Lord of the Rings and I was quite curious, this was obviously Viggo speaking Spanish not someone dubbing him, curioser and curioser.
I was captivated by the movie ever since I saw the trailer on YouTube. It turns out that Alatriste was the largest ever movie production in Spain's history. Besides looking very interesting I was fascinated to hear Viggo Mortensen speaking fluent Spanish. Viggo has an interesting origin. He was born in New York to an American Mother and a Danish father. As a child he moved to Argentina where he grew up and learnt to speak Spanish fluently. My curiosity being piqued by the trailer and Viggo's command of my mother tongue I started looking into this film and when and if it would be released in the US. Because the film is filmed entirely in Spanish and is over two hours long, I doubt that the film will ever get a wide release in the US. I was losing hope of ever watching the film when a few weeks ago I found out that the Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) would be showing the movie.
I immediately became a member and ordered tickets to the film. I was not disappointed. Not only did I get to see the film last night but the movie was introduced by none other than Viggo Mortensen, Ariadna Gil who plays Captain Alatriste's love interest and Agustín Díaz Yanes the film's director and scriptwriter.
Diego Alatriste y Tenorio is a soldier living in Spain's Golden Century. Rich with the gold and riches from it's colonies Spain in the 1600s is the strongest power in the World. Captain Alatriste has returned from the war in Flanders to recuperate from wounds he suffered there. Work is scarce for a soldier in Spain and Alatriste makes ends meet by playing the mercenary. For the right price Captain Alatriste will settle scores with his blades. The story starts as Alatriste is given an assignment by some powerful people. Alatriste has stumbled into a plot and he will make very powerful enemies in trying to extricate himself. The movie follows the adventures of Captain Alatriste and Iñigo Balboa, the son of a fallen comrade who Alatriste is raising.
The film has to leave out much of the meat of the books as it is a mix of the plots of five Alatriste novels and it takes certain liberties with the story. The movie leaves much of the details from the movies out while keeping enough of the flavor. It is not as inspired an adaptation as the Lord of the Rings but it is quite enjoyable nonetheless. I hope the movie will get a full theatric release. Failing that, I hope I can get it as a DVD. It is certainly worth watching again.
While I pined for the movie to make it to the US I read the first book, Capitan Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte and I contacted the illustrator of some of the books, Joan Mundet.
Joan was kind enough to sell me the illustrated version of the novel through his web site. I had looked for this version locally but it doesn't seem to be available in the US. Since he lives in Spain managing the transaction was somewhat tortuous but we eventually figured it out. If you find yourself needing to send small amounts of money abroad, take some advice, PayPal is much better than a wire or a bank check.
Joan's drawings are magnificent and bring to life the world of the Alatriste novels. I also obtained a portfolio of some limited edition prints which look wonderful. Even if you aren't interested in purchasing some of Joan's work, you should check out his drawings, they are excellent. The illustrated version of the first Alatriste novel is fantastic. I recommend it fully.
