Muertos comunes

The film is set in Pamplona 1973 and allegedly based on actual events , stars a tough police inspector called Eusebio Luquin, Javier Albala, he is assigned to work along with a rookie subinspector named Fermin, Ernesto Alterio, married to Pilar Castro . They are asked to solve by their chief comisario, Fernando Delgado, a dark case of rape and killing happened near the army barracks. There the Forensic , Juan Inciarte, finds out new clues. Meanwhile, Eusebio falls in love for the prime suspect's wife, Luchi Lopez, who works at the barracks bar . But there are various suspicious people , the Army Colonel : Adolfo Fernandez, a captain : Juan Carlos Martin, a sergeant : Andres Gertrudix, and including the victim's father . The main premise of the film results to be to discover who is the true killer. Things go wrong when it appears a recent shot of the victim with three Army officers, and then there takes place a series of shocking and bloody events .

This is an acceptable murder mystery with thrills, suspense, violence with a criminal spree , twists and turns. The intriguing events are well paced with surprises , and plot twists, along with some erotic scenes. In the film there is continuous suspense, red herrings, several suspicious people, including a surprising photo that leads to vital clues. Main cast is formed by Javier Albala who gives an overacting that spoils the movie, nevertheless Ernesto Alterio delivers a better interpretation than Albala and Luchi Lopez is acceptable. Decent support cast, such as Adolfo Fernandez, Juan Carlos Martin, Andres Gertrudix ,Fernando Delgado, Pilar Castro , Txema Blasco, among others.

The picture was well produced by the Basque brothers Esteban and Javier Ibarretxe along with the notorious producer Julio Fernandez from Filmax, that has produced successes as Transsiberian, Quarantine, Sultanes, Diario de una ninfomana, Bullying and saga Rec. It contains an evocative and colorful cinematography by Javier Bilbao, adding a decent prodution design and well set in the seventies. As well as an atmospheric and adequate musical score . The film was professionally directed by Norberto Ramos del Val . He is a craftsman who has directed shorts, documentary and a few movies in low budget, such as Faraday, Summertime, Our last weekend and Hienas. Rating : acceptable and passable, 6 .

Only from the credits at the end did I find out that this film was based on true events. Back in the late '80's, Spain seems to had been working on nuclear plans, and weren't for some coup d'etat and American intervention, Spain would've had the atomic bomb.

I know this might sound a bit like your average political thriller, but with 'Muertos Comunes' it wasn't the case. Throughout the film I couldn't help sneering, grinning, and even laughing out loud: it's a tongue-in-cheek cinematic experience, paying homage to both 70's B-series action flicks and to the politics-imbued American sci-fi's of the '5o's. We're dealing with Cold War here, so everything in this film must be and is cool: from the main character (an illiterate yet determinate mustache-wearing detective whose hobbies are cognac, comic books, and lame pick-up lines, who still stays at his mother's and refuses to marry his long-time girlfriend) to the whole setting: a sun-scorched traditional Catholic Spain dealing with new technologies such as pagers and the atomic bomb.

Very enjoyable for a political satire with policier and conspiracy theories undertones.

My vote: 7/10