This co-production between Spain/Colombia/United States/Italy begins in Vatican City, 1995. A hacker breaks into the Pope's (Franco Nero) personal computer, leaving a message in which he assures that the Church of Our Lady of Tears kills to defend itself. Monsignor Spada (Paul Guilfoyle) entrusts the mission to his best agent, the priest Quart (Richard Armitage), who has extensive experience in the dark affairs of the Vatican. Thus, the protagonist of the story is a priest, a member of the Institute of External Works (IOE) of the Vatican. He was orphaned at a very young age and was raised in a religious environment, which led him to become a man of integrity in his obligations. When he arrives in Seville, he will discover that he still has a lot to learn and that not everything is a matter of rules. In the populous city Quart will meet the Duchess Cruz Bruner (Fionnula Flanagan) and her daughter Macarena Bruner (Amaia Salamanca) divorced from a powerful banker (Rodolfo Sancho) who has dark purposes for the Church of Our Lady of Tears.
Adaptation of the novel by Arturo Pérez Reverte whose main book was adapted in 2006: ¨Alatriste¨ directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes, based on his series of novels El Capitán Alatriste, following a television series about said character, and, the following year, ¨La carta esférica¨, directed by Imanol Uribe, in 2022, his novel ¨La piel del tambor¨ (international title "The Skin of the Drum"), is set mainly in Seville, and regularly directed by Sergio Dow. Being adapted to the big screen with a good cast such as: Richard Armitage, Amaia Salamanca, Alicia Borrachero, Rodolfo Sancho, Paul Guilfoyle, Will Keen, Féodor Atkine, Unax Ugalde, Simón Andreu and special appearance by Franco Nero. This was the first film where Franco Nero plays the Pope; he performed him again (a different role) in The Pope's Exorcist (2023), as the film is set in the 80s.
There are several characters surrounding the twisted plot: the main one is the handsome Father Quart, finely but without much enthusiasm played by Richard Armitage (The Hobbit), he belongs to the Church's Institute of Foreign Affairs, an arm of Vatican intelligence, and is sent to investigate. Macarena Bruner, mediocrely played by Amaia Salamanca, is a Sevillian aristocrat who tries to prevent the collapse of the church where her ancestors are buried and where strange things happen. After meeting Quart, Macarena is attracted to him and will help him in his investigations. Cruz Bruner is played by the Irish Fionnula Flanagan who happens to be Macarena's mother. Príamo Ferro is played by the veteran Paul Freeman as the old and tough priest of the church who is against the demolition of Nuestra Señora de las Lágrimas and will do everything possible to prevent it, he is also the confessor of Macarena and her mother. Monsignor Spada: Paul Guilfoyle (CSI), is Quart's superior and, therefore, a member of the OIE and who assigns him the dangerous mission. Pencho Gavira: Rodolfo Sancho (Isabel), is the general manager of the Banco Cartujano who wants the church to be demolished for personal and economic reasons; his wife, only for legal purposes and from whom he is separated, is Macarena Bruner.
Despite having a large part of Spanish actors and being set in Spain (more precisely in Seville, Andalusia, which is somewhat wasted), the film was shot in English. None of the Spanish actors dubbed themselves for the Spanish version, but the dubbing was downright awful and seriously spoiled the film.
It is based on a novel written by the Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte and scripted by many writers who did not know how to weave the plot lines of the intriguing novel well, they are: Adrian Bol, Beth Bollinger, Gretchen Cowan, Carolina López-Rodriguez, Luis Zelkowicz. Reverte is a Spanish journalist and television reporter, who became a writer and today the best-selling author in Spain and the best-selling Spanish author in the world. Famous author of the "Alatriste" novels as he did much of the research work on historical documents related to 17th century Madrid. His novels have the common thread of being based on real historical times and that in each case a great deal of research is devoted to the elaboration of his stories, as well as the fact that he has had to learn a great deal about subjects ranging from the game of chess to the first historical editions of the Dutch masters of the 16th century, through to computing and even swordplay. His extraordinary imaginative abilities have been able to produce well-written adventure stories. The following novels have been adapted to film: ¨El maestro de esgrima¨ by director Pedro Olea, ¨Territorio comanche¨ by Gerardo Herrero, ¨La novena puerta¨ by Roman Polanski, ¨Cachito¨ by Enrique Irbuzu, ¨Gitano¨ by Manuel Palacios, ¨Uncovered¨ based on ¨La tabla de Flandes¨ by Jim McBride and ¨La Carta Esférica¨ by Pedro Olea.
There is an attractive photography by the cameraman Aitor Mantxola from Carmona, Seville, Andalusia, Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy, although I feel that the wonderful interiors and exteriors are somewhat wasted, they should have photographed the showy city of Seville more, and even the 'Giralda' does not appear. There is also a lively but overly repetitive musical score by the prestigious Roque Baños. The film was poorly written and directed by Sergio Dow, who does not unravel the plot well, allowing himself to be carried away by confusion and muddying the events, not competently distributing the different skeins of the script and without the necessary clarity.
