Bajocero
, the thriller that just premiered on Netflix, has become one of the
most watched movies
on the platform worldwide.
Javier Gutiérrez, Karra Elejalde
, Luis Callejo, Patrick Criado and Andrés Gertrúdix participate in a dark story with fast-paced action.
BET ON A COMPLICATED GENDER
The history of
Bajocero
takes place, to a large extent, at night.
Without revealing anything about its surprising ending, it must be said that it is a
thriller starring Martín (Javier Gutiérrez)
, a policeman who is part of the team that must monitor the path of an armored truck full of prisoners.
Some of these dangerous criminals are played by
Luis Callejo, Patrick Criado and Andrés Gertrúdix
.
The surprise comes when, in the middle of the night, someone forces the agents to stop the truck.
From there,
the 'bad guy' of the show (played by Karra Elejalde)
promotes a revolt inside the van from the outside.
His objective is to be handed over to a prisoner to settle accounts with him outside the law. Whether he succeeds or not and how the other characters react leads to scenes of tension.
From left
to the right, Andrés Gertrúdix, Édgar Vittorino, Luis Callejo and Florin Opitrescu.
As you can see, the plot is reminiscent
of John Carpenter's
Assault on the 13th District Police Station
;
It has details of
Buried (Buried)
, of Rodrigo Cortés
and even of
Cell 211, of Daniel Monzón
.
Lluís Quílez, the director of
Bajocero
, has acknowledged that his film is inspired by his childhood memories of the Barcelona Model Prison and tapes shot in the 70s and 80s by
Steven Spielberg, Sam Peckinpah
or the aforementioned
John Carpenter
.
In Quílez's film there are
car chases, shootings, fights between prisoners and an
evident
tension
in moments in which the 'bad guy' communicates by
walkie talkie
and no one (not even the viewer) can guess his intentions.
There is also talk of the dilemma between following or not what the Law says, the morality of the prisoners and the thirst for justice.
In this last point, the memory of the case of Marta del Castillo is obligatory.
Being credible is the challenge that these types of productions face.
A THRILLER WITH A BIG BILL
Filming at night is very difficult.
And, above all, do it at low temperatures even more.
As Javier Gutiérrez himself has confessed, the filming of
Bajocero
has been "a master's degree of suffering" due to the
weather conditions that surrounded the night-time recordings
in the Sierra de Guadarrama.
The outdoor scenes were recorded there, with real snow or added digitally.
With the help of Isaac Vila as director of photography, Lluís Quílez organized everything so that the staging was as real as possible.
To do this, those
responsible for production had to use all their ingenuity
to adapt to a minimum space (the police van), solve technical problems related to lighting and that, above all those issues, the rhythm was frenetic.
Javier Gutiérrez and Lluís Quílez, the director, during the filming of the film.
Critics and viewers who have seen
Bajocero
been highlighted as
strengths
the rhythm and scenes happening inside the van.
And, as
defects
, the credibility in certain prisoners as the end approaches, the curious death of some criminals and policemen, how the character of Karra Elejalde acts when his objective is close or technical details related to police transfers, especially at night and with that number of police officers.
A PROTAGONIST AND LUXURY SECONDARY
Javier Gutiérrez
is one of the best known Spanish actors at the moment.
And one of the most solid.
In his long career he has accumulated awards, works in various genres ... and
has played policemen
on several occasions.
Whether it was in the series
I am alive
, in the comedy
Torrente 3
or in the thriller
The minimal island
, the actor already knows what it is to embody a law enforcement officer.
Matías, his character in
Bajocero
, is a man of integrity, whom we see respecting the Law at (almost) every moment and who does not hesitate to protect the criminals he is guarding.
That
Javier Gutiérrez, a sure value
in most of his recent performances (
Campeones
,
Hogar
and the series
Vergüenza
), is at the forefront of this project should not make us forget the great work done by Karra Elejalde.
Javier Gutiérrez plays a policeman named Martín.
His character, a loser who
should not be revealed much more
so as not to fall into the
spoiler
, bursts onto the scene after 20 minutes of footage and gives way to
tense scenes inside the van
.
His surprising appearance (first, only with voice) propels the action and leads to a finale in which Karra Elejalde and Javier Gutiérrez have a hand in hand ... with the help of another interpreter.
Patrick Criado, Luis Callejo and Andrés Gertrúdix clothe all those interpreters with
hateful characters
, who acknowledge having committed crimes of all kinds and who do not hesitate to look out for their own interest rather than for the common good.
THE GREAT SUPPORT OF NETFLIX
The film
was to be released in theaters
.
But, due to the difficult situation that cinemas are going through, Netflix has been the place where it has been seen.
Its success has been such that, if we believe the data provided by the digital platform,
Bajocero
became, in its premiere, the most viewed feature film in almost fifty countries.
Among them, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela.
A fact that strengthens the idea that reaching the general public is increasingly difficult in theaters and more likely if you have a large content platform aside.
Its
advertising campaign has been admirable
and the presence of both the actors and the Barcelona filmmaker in the media has also helped.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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