Netflix is a fantastic platform to check our original TV and movie content from all over the world.
One of the best new international series is called She Walks in Darkness, a Spanish political thriller film about a young Guardia Civil agent who goes undercover for years with a group of terrorists in Southern France.
She Walks in Darkness is based on a long-spanning but fairly contemporary piece of Spanish history and turns it into a gripping narrative.
Watch With Us loves a good thriller, and we think She Walks in Darkness has the goods to be the streamer’s next A House of Dynamite.
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It’s Based on a Fascinating Chapter in Spain’s History
She Walks in Darkness surrounds the separatist group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, which means “Basque Homeland and Liberty”). The armed nationalist group was active in Spain and France between 1958 all the way through 2018, although the group announced that it would end its armed activity in 2011. It was officially dissolved in 2018. ETA was considered the main organization of the Basque National Liberation Movement, which sought to promote Basque independence and identity.
This new film takes the real-life attempts to try and stop the terrorists of the ETA and turns them into a compelling historical fiction film. She Walks in Darkness centers on Amaia (Susana Abaitua), a young agent of the Spanish Civil Guard who abandons her position for a new mission: going undercover within the ETA the discern the location of multiple weapons stocks across Southern France. Taking place in the 1990s, this decades-long conflict becomes an intimate look at one woman’s murky moral quest.
It Expertly Blends Realism With Suspense
Director Agustín Díaz Yanes‘s film masterfully takes a moment of history and turns it into a gripping, fictionalized espionage thriller. While managing to balance historical accuracy with compelling characters and a narrative that doesn’t exploit the real-life story, which serves as its foundation, She Walks in Darkness is both a revealing look at a conflict that many might not be aware of and also an engaging story in its own right.
However, the film isn’t a high-octane action flick, but rather an intimate look at the internal effects that fighting for a perceived greater good has on a person. As Amaia spends more time with the terrorist group, she finds herself sympathizing with them and the reasoning behind their cause more. The optimism she once sported when she first entered her missions has deteriorated as Amaia is forced to witness things that she can’t forget. The claustrophobic atmosphere slowly ratchets up suspense that is patiently and progressively released.
‘She Walks in Darkness’ Has a Great Lead Performance
As Amaia, actress Susana Abaitua has a difficult role. She’s embedded covertly in this group who can’t know who she is or what her true intentions are, yet she still needs to convey to the audience what she’s thinking and how she feels. It makes for a role that relies a lot of physical performance and nuance, which may make her character feel a little undercooked. But even with such threadbare material, Abaitua elevates it into a rich characterization.
Additionally, Abaitua portrays Amaia with a steadfast intensity. She must remain alert and convey a sense of power, but you still get the sense that Amaia is in over her head. There’s a lot that needs to be articulated in Amaia’s appearance and behavior that’s left unspoken, and Abaitua is incredibly skilled at doing so. In this way, the character of Amaia is quietly powerful as well as internally conflicted.
The Filmmaking Craft Is Impeccable
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Yanes not only does an excellent job of weaving history with fiction and eliciting great performances from her cast, but She Walks in Darkness is excellent from a technical standpoint as well. Yanes cultivates a great atmosphere through her attention to period detail, production design and also the consistent use of rain, helped along by cinematographer Paco Femenía, who creates a dour, moody version of the Basque region.
There is also a consistent tension that keeps you on edge, and the overall understated nature of the film is frequently contrasted with shocking violence that nevertheless refrains from being sensationalized. Through setting, mood and confident direction, Yanes evokes the necessary environment of the time period as well as the psychological toll on her lead character.
Watch She Walks in Darkness now on Netflix.
