Kämpferin im Untergrund

A spanish guard called amaia goes undercover to take down a terrorist cell called ETA. The film was straight forword but muddled. Unfortunaly there was more drama to this and not much build up to the outcome it just ends and leaves you feeling like it needed something. Ill give it a five for good acting and a couple of intense scenes but it just needed more of a thriller vibe to make it more interesting.

As "She Walks Into Darkness" (2025 release from Spain; 108 min.) opens, we are in "San Sebastian, January 23, 1995" as the Spanish extremist group ETA murders the likely next mayor in cold blood. We then are introduced to Amaia, a Civil Guard agent who is recruited to go undercover at ETA to get to ETA's leadership. At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: Spain's ETA was one of Europe's most ruthless and violent terrorist organizations, right up there with Germany's Rode Armee Fraction. Not that you would know that from watching this movie. In fact, what torpedoes this movie is the overall lack of tension. Working undercover within ETA should scare the hell out of anyone, but that is nowhere to be found. Amaia reports back to her police handlers throughout these years, seemingly without any issue or worry of being found out. I found it all quite baffling to be honest. The movie is not all-out bad per se, but it feels like a lost opportunity.

"She Walks In Darkness" premiered at this year's San Sebastian Film Festival, and it started airing on Netflix last month. The movie is currently rated 58% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. If you are interested in a foreign movie about infiltrating a terrorist organization undercover, I'd readily suggest you check this out (with lowered expectations), and draw your own conclusion.

What truly makes a great undercover thriller isn't just the action or the plot twists; it's the internal cost paid by the agent. She Walks in Darkness (or Un fantasma en la batalla) is an absolute masterclass in this, and for me, it instantly became one of the best police dramas I've seen recently. The film hinges entirely on Susana Abaitua's mesmerizing performance as Amaia, the undercover agent. Honestly, she is the reason this movie works. The camera loves to linger on her face, and every frame reveals the sheer weight of her deception. She doesn't just play a tough agent; she embodies the terrifying vulnerability of a person living a fractured life.

I was completely captivated by the way Abaitua portrayed the slow erosion of the boundary between Amaia's real identity and the dangerous role she must inhabit. Her eyes constantly communicate a silent terror-the fear of being discovered, combined with the deeper fear of forgetting who she is. It's raw, it's complex, and it completely elevates the film from a standard procedural to a profound psychological study. The tension isn't just in the gang she's trying to infiltrate; it's in Amaia's own soul, and Abaitua delivers that conflict with chilling authenticity.

The script, pacing, and atmosphere are all top-notch, building a claustrophobic sense of dread that kept me glued to the screen. But when I think back on this movie, I won't remember the specifics of the investigation as much as I will remember the gut-punch emotional impact of Abaitua's Amaia. It's a performance that deserves all the praise and solidifies her as a dramatic force. If you love thrillers with psychological depth, this is required viewing.

An excellent film inspired by a real-life operation by the Spanish police against ETA.

The film tells the story of Spanish policewoman Amai (Susana Abaitua), who requests assignment to the Basque Country, then gains the trust of an ETA cell and begins to surveil it. The film is repeatedly interrupted by archival footage documenting assassinations and arrests.

The film's great strength is its realism. There are no idiotic Bond-style scenes or plot twists every 15 seconds. We have slow-paced scenes of everyday life, such as sharing a room with an ETA fighter and taking out trash containing important evidence. And then seizing that trash for analysis. Solid intelligence work. Although it's worth noting a very surprising scene in which the undercover agent herself analyzes trash in the kitchen after the ETA fighter leaves. The trash should have been analyzed by a team at the police station. While there are a few surprising scenes, there are definitely more good ones, such as the frequent exchange of cars and the constant questioning of the main character by suspicious ETA fighters.

A truly well-made film.

Films produced to discourage terrorism aren't exactly new. Here, we have a protagonist called on a mission to infiltrate the ETA organization and help dismantle it. The film could go far, but it's not original at all. It lacks the intensity it could have and becomes a shallow work. Many scenes are confusing, biased, and unnecessary. The story seems to not advance and doesn't captivate or impact as we expect. It's slower than it should be and doesn't provoke reflection. Furthermore, there's always a western bias of thinking, which creates even more confusion and undermines consistency. This harms the film. Of course, a violent separatist movement isn't exactly what a country needs. It's not exactly what we expect and seek, but this is a complicated theme, and the film doesn't know how to handle it. The result couldn't be anything else: a confusing work, a story that doesn't excite or instigate, a journey that isn't remarkable, below the expectations. But the bloody separatist terrorism isn't welcome: fact!