Review of Adu

Adu (2020)
8/10
Pretty good film , compellingly made , with intense drama , impressive scenes and masterfully played
3 February 2023
A well performed film regarding several stories interweave in Africa and Spain, involving a collection of inter-related characters . Three people, three stories, one thing in common: Africa . Three heartbreaking stories come together in Melilla: a child on a desperate journey, a father (Luis Tosar) who finds himself with his estranged daughter (Anna Castillo) and a group of civil guards prepare to face the furious crowd of sub-Saharan people who have begun the assault on the fence , and then a civil guard (Alvaro Cervantes) is eaten away by guilt.

An intertwined and complex drama , being stunning and compellingly directed , dealing with three stories linked by a central theme, in which none of its protagonists know their destinies are doomed to cross and that their lives will no longer be the same. A well paced movie with nice narrating structure taken from prestigious directors as Alejandro G. Iñárritu , Guillermo Arriaga , Steven Soderbergh , being professionally made . There's so much going for this movie with vastly separate lives colliding in interweaving stories of despair, escape , a journey to a better life, knowledge and redemption , being well written by notorious screenwriter Alejandro Hernández. The performances are all terrific , while director Salvador Calvo seemingly effortless mastery of his medium goes from strength to strength , in whic stories cross and collide. Steering us through a densely detailed storyline with a clear-eyed sense of purpose and balance , including a handful of desperate people's lives eventually interlacing themselves . Filmmaker Calvo used three different film stocks , each with their own color treatment and grain for the print , with a hand-held camera at times , contributing gritty reportage-style camerawork to enhance an aura of authenticity . Interpreations are uniformly good : Luis Tosar as an environmental activist , his daughter finely played by Anna Castillo and Alvaro Cervantes as a Civil Guard with the task to protect the barb wire which divides the city of the rest of Africa to avoid the entering of African immigrants. And the two children are desperately fleeing, they are also very good. Furthermore , other stunning secondaries as Miquel Fernández, Nora Navas , Jesús Carroza , Ana Wagener and Belén López .

It contains a colorful cinematography shot on several locations in Republic of Benin, Lorca, Murcia, Mazarrón, Murcia , La Manga del Mar Menor, Cartagena, Murcia, Melilla, Parque de Atracciones, Madrid , Spain and Morocco. As well as evocative and stirring musical score by Roque Baños. The motion picture was competently directed by Salvador Calvo. This craftsman Salvador Calvo has made successful TV Series and episodes such as ¨Lo Que Escondían Sus Ojos¨ , ¨Mario Conde¨ , ¨La Duquesa¨ , ¨Askrana¨ , ¨Paquirri¨ , ¨Cuentame Un Cuento¨ , and has directed for cinema the hit ¨Los Ultimos De Filipinas¨ . Rating : 7.5/10 . Notable . Worthwhile watching.
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