Morirás en Chafarinas (1995) Poster

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6/10
Acceptable military thriller with plenty of action , pursuits , twists , turns and a suspenseful ending
ma-cortes16 June 2017
It is set in Melilla where a corporal of the guard of the regiment of Spanish Legion named Jaime (Jorge Sanz) doing the Military Service is teamed with a young soldier called Cidraque (Javier Albalá) who is prisoner and freed to investigate strange killings . Both of whom become into investigators and will attempt to solve the weird murders that have occurred in . The cunning team finds themselves plunged into a world of dark issues , lies , betrayal and drug trafficking where they find that all is not what it seems . There are several suspects , captain Gayarre (Ramón Langa) , captain Contreras (Oscar Ladoire) , his wife Elisa (as Maria Barranco) , among others . Who is the killer? . Later on , they go to a little island where is the walled fortress of Chafarinas and there takes place the unexpected denouement .

¨Morirás En Chafarinas¨ contains twisted mysteries , thrills , action , chases , and suspense . This is a highly mysterious and interesting thriller , filled with plot twists , including an unexpected result in its ending part . From start to finish the complicated intrigue , fast-paced , and suspense result to be continuous . Hitchcock-style thriller , being surprisingly good and compellingly shot , though contains some flaws and gaps . Based on the homonymous novel by Fernando Lelena , also screenwriter , here producer/writer/filmmaker Pedro Olea makes an acceptable intrigue movie in which is mingled drugs , deceit , passion and ambition . This "Zafarinas" or ¨Morirás En Chafarinas¨ is considered to be one of his best last films of an uneven career . The picture is pretty well , though sometimes falls short and it has a lot of turns . The original as well entertaining premise is overspread across the movie adding some brief conventional pitfalls . The cast is frankly good , standing out the two main players , as Jorge Sanz gives a nice acting as a brave corporal and the unknown Javier Albalá as his investigator colleague . Support cast is top-notch , such as : Óscar Ladoire , María Barranco , Tony Zenet , Armando Del Rio , Txema Blasco , and Esperanza Campuzano , daughter of famous pianist Felipe Campuzano . Special mention for Antonio Dechent playing a brigade who works as a waiter , too . Furthermore , brief appearances of future stars of Spanish cinema as Alberto San Juan , Pepón Nieto , Ernesto Alterio and Antonio De la Torre . It packs a colorful and adequate cinematography by Paco Femenia who has photographed great number of successes as ¨Juana La Loca¨, "Don't Tempt Me" , ¨Alatriste¨, ¨Volaverunt¨, ¨Solo Quiero Caminar¨, ¨Carmen¨ and ¨Oro¨ . Being shot on location in Melilla , Almería, Andalucía , Tangier, Chefchaouen , Morocco and Madrid, Spain . And an evocative musical score by Bernardo Bonezzi , full of Arab and oriental sounds .

This mystery thriller picture was professionally directed by Pedro Olea. He is one of the most gripping Spanish directors , being an expert Basque director , producer and screenwriter . Olea was born in Bilbao , Basque Country , where he often directs his films . He began directing ¨Dias Viejo color¨ and followed a personal work titled ¨Bosque del Lobo¨ about an alleged werewolf splendidly played by José Luis López Vazquez . He subsequently directed a trilogy about Madrid , produced by Jose Frade , such as : ¨Tormento¨ , ¨Pim , Pam , Pum Fuego¨ and ¨La Corea¨ . After six years in which Pedro Olea dedicated in advertising and documentaries as ¨Guernica¨ , ¨River of Bilbao¨ and TV series as ¨Cuentos Y Leyendas¨ , and others about Basque themes , Olea goes back to shoot , thanks to subsidy of the Basque government , making a witchery story called ¨Akelarre¨. His biggest success was ¨A man called Flor De Otoño¨ with Jose Sacristán . After that , he made ¨Bandera Negra¨ about arms smuggling and this military thriller : ¨Moriras en Chafarinas¨ ; later on , he directed ¨Mas Allá Jardin¨ with Concha Velasco . And ¨Fencing master¨ that resulted to be one of the best films . And he also shot another film about witchery : ¨Leyenda Del Cura De Bargota¨ TV (1988) . ¨Morirás En Chafarinas¨ rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable , well worth watching .
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The Friendship, The Secret and the Intrigue of a Military Base
lito1523 August 2001
A great film of military intrigue. The Film is not like a big production of Hollywood with a big budget, but it's quite interesting.

There are several things that makes you keep watching this movie, and the reasons are, to solve the secret of all, the plot (is simple but attractive), and to know how it ends (because the plot seems to arrive to some point, but the plot arrive at another one).

Instead of all the intrigue and what you think about the characters (that some of them are good guys & bad guys), the friendship is kept as an essential part of the development.

And a last thing... The Military Base... you see how it works and how is it (as in the real life) with all those secrets and intrigue, but always as if nothing is happening
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