Product Description

Description: Viggo Mortensen leads an all-star cast in this swashbuckling period drama - the story of Diego Alatriste, a former soldier and mercenary who becomes a hero of Spain's 17th century Imperial wars. The most expensive Spanish-language film ever made based on the wildly popular novel series by Arturo Pérez Reverte. 17th century imperial Spain under the reign of Philip IV, a weak and easily manipulated monarch dominated by a corrupt and intrigue-ridden court, the head of which is the influential Count-Duke Olivares. Intrigue and betrayal, duels and battles, love and hatred set the stage for the adventures of Captain Alatriste. In His Majesty's service, a proud soldier in Flanders and in times of peace, a hired sword in Madrid and Seville. He wasn't the most virtuous of men, nor the most devout, but he was a man of valour. His name was Diego Alatriste! Alatriste is in love with the beautiful María de Castro, the most famous actress of her time. Compelled to fulfil the final wish of his dying friend, Alatriste makes his way back to Spain to care for the man's young son Iñigo. Alatriste attempts to safeguard Iñigo both from a military career and from the Machiavellian woman he loves, the sweet and disturbing Angelica Alquézar. SINOPSIS: En la España Imperial del siglo XVII, Diego Alatriste, valeroso soldado al servicio de su majestad, combate en las frías tierras de Flandes. En la España del siglo XVII, el capitán Diego Alatriste combate en la fría región de Flandes en una emboscada de los Holandeses. Cuando su amigo Balboa cae herido de muerte Alatriste le promete cuidar a su hijo, Iñigo. Un mercenario y Alatriste son contratados para darle fin a dos extranjeros misteriosos. En el ultimo momento, presiente que algo anda mal y decide no cumplir el encargo para llegar al fondo del asunto pero encontrara a un una red de conspiracion y a un enemigo demasiado poderoso para su espada.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19742 in DVD
• Formats: NTSC, Import, Widescreen, Dolby, Subtitled, Dubbed
• Subtitled in: English, Portuguese

Customer Reviews

a little disappointed
After waiting for several years to see this movie I am a little disappointed, but I was expecting to be. I love the books, those released in English, despite what I suspect to be problems with the translations. And I was very excited to hear about the movie and thought Viggo Mortenson would be great as Captain Alatriste. And he is.

The fact that it was not released in North America on either movie screens or DVD prepared me for a less than perfect movie.

Visually, the movie looks good. The actors and costumes are just as I imagined the characters to be as are the settings and set decoration. However, the film makers tried to cram too much into it leaving a disjointed mess. The Alatriste books are rather thin on plot, but if one book does not a movie make, trying to film all of them does not work either. I am not interested in a slavish recreation of the books. But in trying to cram in so much, they have also left out too much.

A movie based on the first two books would have been suffcient.

Too Much Going On
The Alatriste books are wonderful, amazing historical recreations, brilliantly plotted and intricate mysteries. I had high hopes for this movie, which clearly had a substantial budget. Viggo Mortensen is perfectly cast as Alatriste. However, the filmmakers erred by trying to compress the entire series into one movie. It plays like an outline or summary. There is little character development and less coherency. A much better approach would have been to focus only on the first novel and produce a faithful adaptation. Even if Mortensen (or funding) proved unavailable for sequels, that would have been a far more satisfying movie.

All this being said, the movie looks great. I believed I was looking at early 17th century Spain (and Flanders). I believed that the characters represented authentic types. As a fencer, I was less pleased with the fight scenes, which mostly seemed rushed and perfunctory and not convincingly choreographed.

Recommendation: See it for the recreation of Spain as it began to decline from its peak of glory, and for Viggo Mortensen wearing one of the great movie moustaches of all time. Just don't expect greatness.

A treat to the senses
It would be worth seeing this movie for the photography alone! Absolutely superb, with every shot like a masterpiece of painting. Beautifully told in poetic language. (I saw it in the Spanish version). Viggo Mortensen was perfectly cast, giving a brilliant performance as the soldier-turned-mercenary to the Spanish empire, portraying a weary warrior with a noble heart. A movie that appeals to so many senses and that could easily be seen more than once, because there is so much to take in, and for the quality of the photography alone, it could be enjoyed many times over. Thumbs up to the director of photography, the director, to Viggo, to the rest of the excellent cast, as well as the script-writer!