What Lucía Saw

What Lucía Saw (Spanish: Llegaron de noche;[1] transl. 'They Came by Night')[2] is a 2022 Spanish-Colombian drama film directed by Imanol Uribe which stars Juana Acosta, Juan Carlos Martínez, Carmelo Gómez and Karra Elejalde. It is a dramatization of the 1989 murders of Jesuits in El Salvador by the Salvadoran Army.

What Lucía Saw
Theatrical release poster
SpanishLlegaron de noche
Directed byImanol Uribe
Written byDaniel Cebrián
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyKalo Berridi
Edited byTeresa Font
Music byVanessa Garde
Production
companies
  • Bowfinger International Pictures
  • Tornasol Media
  • Nunca digas nunca AIE
  • 64A Films
Distributed byKarma Films (es)
Release dates
  • 21 March 2022 (2022-03-21) (Málaga)
  • 25 March 2022 (2022-03-25) (Spain)
Countries
  • Spain
  • Colombia
LanguageSpanish

Plot

The plot follows the Central American University's cleaning staff Lucía Barrera de Cerna,[3] a witness of the massacre of the 1989 murders of Jesuits in El Salvador by the Salvadoran Army,[4] who stood up for truth and refused to cover up the responsibility of the military with the fake attribution of the crime to the FMLN guerrilla by the Salvadoran government,[5] in the midst of the Salvadoran Civil War.

Cast

Production

The film was originally known as La mirada de Lucía (transl. Lucía's gaze) early in the production stage. The screenplay was penned by Daniel Cebrián.[3] The film was produced by Bowfinger International Pictures, Tornasol Media and Nunca digas nunca AIE alongside 64A Films, and it had the participation of RTVE and Movistar+ and support from ICAA, the Ibermedia programme and ICO.[7] Shooting began by November 2020 in Navarre.[8] It later moved to Colombia, shooting in Valle del Cauca in between Cali and Buga.[9]

Release

The film was presented on 21 March 2022 at the 25th Málaga Film Festival,[10] as part of the festival's main competition.[7] Distributed by Karma Films, it opened in Spanish theatres on 25 March 2022.[11][12]

Reception

Sergio F. Pinilla of Cinemanía rated the film with 4 out of 5 stars, underscoring that Acosta shines in Uribe's return to political thriller.[13]

Juan Pando of Fotogramas gave it 3 out of 5 stars, highlighting "the innocence of the protagonist in the face of the surrounding horror", while considering that the negative characters were not sufficiently humanised as a drawback.[14]

Manuel J. Lombardo of Diario de Sevilla gave a negative review and 2 stars, deeming the film, weighed down by several bad decisions, to be a "discursive, superficial, leaden work", "with no real context, political bite nor dramatic tension".[15]

Jonathan Holland of ScreenDaily deemed What Lucía Saw to be a "well-intentioned but uneven" film, pointing out that some people will wonder "how it is possible to extract so little tension from such a subject".[2]

See also

References
  1. Hopewell, John; Jones, Holly (21 March 2022). "Malaga Film Festival 2022 Lineup". Variety.
  2. Holland, Jonathan (23 March 2022). "'What Lucia Saw': Malaga Review". ScreenDaily.
  3. "La matanza de los jesuitas en El Salvador, al cine en marzo". El Día de Valladolid. 21 December 2021.
  4. "El director de cine Imanol Uribe recrea el asesinato de Ellacuría y los jesuitas de la UCA". Cadena COPE. 24 January 2022.
  5. "Tráiler de 'Llegaron de noche': Imanol Uribe recrea la masacre de los jesuitas en El Salvador". RTVE. 25 January 2022.
  6. "Llegaron de noche". Cineuropa. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  7. "Daniel Guzmán, Carla Simón, Jota Linares, Juan Miguel del Castillo e Imanol Uribe, competirán en Festival de Cine". Europa Press. 17 February 2022.
  8. "Comienza en Navarra el rodaje de "La mirada de Lucía", sobre el asesinato de Ignacio Ellacuría". Noticias de Navarra. 9 November 2020.
  9. "Los rodajes cinematográficos arrancaron en Colombia". El Universal. 8 February 2021.
  10. "Juana Acosta protagoniza 'Llegaron de noche', basada en la matanza de los jesuitas en El Salvador". La Nación. 21 March 2022.
  11. "El Festival de Málaga 2022 avanza las primeras producciones españolas para su Sección Oficial". Cine y Tele. 17 February 2022.
  12. Nogueira Calvar, Andrea (1 April 2022). "Imanol Uribe y Juana Acosta presentan 'Llegaron de noche' a los suscriptores de EL PAÍS". El País.
  13. Pinilla, Sergio F. (24 March 2022). "Crítica de 'Llegaron de noche'". Cinemanía – via 20minutos.es.
  14. Pando, Juan (27 March 2022). "Crítica de 'Llegaron de noche', lo nuevo de Imanol Uribe". Fotogramas.
  15. Lombardo, Manuel J. (26 March 2022). "Sin tensión no hay denuncia". Diario de Sevilla.
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