When I was a kid, if movies and TV shows used to paint the world in black and white—not in the literal sense, but in the metaphorical way—I used to blindly accept it. If you said cops existed to keep us safe from criminals, and criminals existed to break the law, I wouldn’t think too deeply about it and believe that that must be the truth. But as I grew up and started seeing things from a slightly critical lens, I began to notice that all “cops” weren’t good and all “criminals” weren’t bad. Some of these cops were neck-deep in corruption and had so many cases of custodial death in their roster that they could give a lot of legit criminals a run for their money. And some of these criminals were just outliers of the system who had been betrayed and cast out from society for doing something as basic as fighting for their rights. Once that realization set in, every time a story in a movie or a show was told exclusively from the perspective of the police, I would doubt it. Especially when said story wasn’t covered by unbiased journalists or media houses that weren’t in the pocket of the government. On top of that, I’d question the timing of its release as well because the decision to analyze a chapter of history is rarely random. With all that in mind, let’s talk about She Walks in Darkness.
Set in the ‘90s, Agustin Diaz Yanes’ She Walks in Darkness tells the story of an officer of the Civil Guard, Amaya Mateos Gines. She had lost both of her parents when she was just 16. She had studied English, French, and Basque. She had put in several requests to work in Basque Country. Eventually, she is roped in by Teniente Coronel Castro to infiltrate the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or ETA. She is given a different name: Amaia Lopez Elosegui (couldn’t they have chosen a first name that was a little more different than her actual first name?), and she is trained to pretend to be a schoolteacher and a Basque National Liberation Movement supporter. The principal of that school is Begona Landaburu. Her husband has been in jail for the past 5 years for his work as a member of the Donosti faction of the ETA. Begona herself apparently oversees the factions in Guipuzcoa, and even though she has a friendly demeanor, she is considered to be highly dangerous. Amaya’s job will obviously involve winning the trust of Begona, finding out the people that the ETA are targeting, and unearthing the weapons cache that they have. As the bodies begin to pile up and Amaya struggles to get close enough to these separatists to learn about their plans, she begins to wonder if she has bitten off more than she can chew.
The thing that stuck out like a sore thumb in the entirety of She Walks in Darkness is the writing around Amaya and her fiancé. We are so used to watching male-centric movies and TV shows where the female romantic interest has no personality at all, and her existence is the equivalent of a flower vase, that it’s surprising to see a gender-bent version of that trope. I mean, the fiancé doesn’t even have a name. He doesn’t bring anything to the table. His dialogues range from “How are you doing?” to “Stay safe,” and that’s it. Why is this character even in the movie? Just to tell the audience that Amaya is a straight woman? Or is this a commentary—albeit unintentional in nature—about how propagandas like this have a habit of writing the romantic interest in a shallow fashion? I know that that’s not the point of the movie, but analyzing this is much more entertaining than everything else that’s going on. It’s supposed to be a political thriller, but Agustin’s understanding of politics is “separatists bad, cops good.” So, what should I even say about that? There’s no thrill to the whole chase. Agustin doesn’t care if we care about the character of Amaya, or anyone else for that matter; they’re just vessels who exist to convey information about the downfall of the ETA to the audience.
Unless the crew of a movie or a show is absolutely incompetent, I have noticed that most of these projects that are set in the past have a pretty high degree of historical accuracy in terms of the production design, costume design, art direction, and the hair and make-up. And the work done by the crew of She Walks in Darkness to transport us to the ‘90s is an example of this trend. This is one aspect of the entertainment industry that I see is improving with each year. I haven’t seen any popular outlets cover this phenomenon because they are too busy asking artists which is their favorite Marvel and DC superhero. But, yeah, I think this is something that should be talked about more. The cinematography by Paco Femenia, the editing by Bernat Vilaplana, the music by Arnau Bataller, and the sound design by Oriol Tarrago are pretty top-notch. However, the weakest link here is Agustin. There are several moments throughout the film where it seems like he has no interest in telling this story at all. It’s like he has been tasked with bringing this “brave tale” to the screen, and he has done his job. And that’s what makes me question the intent of the film.
Susana Abaitua is woefully miscast in the film. Iraia Elias, Ariadna Gil, Raul Arevalo, Anartz Zuazua, and the rest of the supporting cast aren’t winning any accolades for their work either. But at the very least they have tried their best to become the character they are playing. Susana, though, seems to be hellbent on turning every second of her screentime into a “mogging” session. Before anyone says that I’m being misogynistic, I had the same thought while watching the men in War 2 as well. It’s as if they are so afraid of looking like a real human being that even though the character is put in highly stressful situations, the actor refuses to push their facial muscles to the limit lest it produce an “ugly” frame. I don’t know if such actors are cast to romanticize these kinds of jobs or if the casting director just wants to use their popularity to boost the viewership of the film, but yeah, this experiment isn’t working. With all that said, do I recommend giving She Walks in Darkness a watch? Nope. If you want to learn about the ETA and the politics of Spain during the ‘90s, just read about it instead of analyzing it all through the perspective of cops. In fact, consider that a general piece of advice for every movie and TV show with cops in it; you can thank me later.
