''Alatriste'' is a 2006 Spanish

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

Agustín Díaz Yanes Agustín Díaz Yanes (born 1950, in Madrid) is a Spanish Goya Award-winning screenwriter and film director. Filmography Screenwriter * ''Al límite'' (1997) * '' Belmonte'' (1995) * '' Demasiado corazón'' (1992) * '' A solas contigo'' (199 ...

, based on the main character of a series of novels written by

Arturo Pérez-Reverte Arturo Pérez-Reverte Gutiérrez (born 25 November 1951) is a Spanish novelist and journalist. He worked as a war correspondent for RTVE for 21 years (1973–1994). His first novel, '' El húsar'', set in the Napoleonic Wars, was published in ...

, '' The Adventures of Captain Alatriste'' (). The film, which stars

Viggo Mortensen Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. (; born October 20, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received nominations for three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. Mortensen made his film debut with a small role in ...

, is the second most expensive

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

film ever made in Spain (about €24 million – US$30 million); only preceded by ''

Agora The agora (; , romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Ancient Greece, Greek polis, city-states. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center ...

''. It portrays Spain of the 17th century using both fictional and real characters.

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

has bought the rights to the film. The film was released on 1 September 2006.

Plot

The story takes place during the 17th century in the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

. Diego Alatriste is a soldier in the service of

King Philip IV of Spain Philip IV (, ; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered for his patronage of the ...

during the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish Empire, Spanish government. The Origins of the Eighty Years' War, causes of the w ...

. The story begins in the

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

, where his ''

tercio A ''tercio'' (), Spanish for " third") was a military unit of the Spanish Army during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and Habsburg Spain in the early modern period. They were the elite military units of the Spanish monarchy and ...

'' fights in the

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, exc ...

. His friend Lope Balboa is killed during the fighting, and Alatriste returns to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

where he takes Lope's young son Íñigo into his care. Alatriste is hired along with a Sicilian assassin named Gualterio Malatesta to kill the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

(the future

King Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after h ...

) and his companion, the

Duke of Buckingham Duke of Buckingham, referring to the market town of Buckingham, England, is an extinct title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There were creations of double dukedoms of Bucki ...

. The job is contracted by Emilio Bocanegra and Luis de Alquézar (uncle of Íñigo's love interest, Angélica de Alquézar). Alatriste finally returns to the Netherlands in 1624 (although the movie states 1625) and participates in the final battles leading to Breda's surrender. After returning to Spain, Íñigo wants to elope with Angélica, but she gets cold feet at the last moment. Alatriste has a romance with actress María de Castro. Because she was disappointed that she failed to marry him, she became the lover of Philip IV. Alatriste ends up crossing swords with Guadalmedina, a friend of the king. In the end, the object of their attention falls ill with

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

. The duel with his friend Martín Saldaña and the punishment of Íñigo in the galleys are part of the film's spectacular ending. The last scenes are at the

Battle of Rocroi The Battle of Rocroi, fought on 19 May 1643, was a major engagement of the Thirty Years' War between a French army, led by the 21-year-old Duke of Enghien (later known as the Great Condé) and Spanish forces under General Francisco de Melo ...

(May 1643), described in the last book of '' The Adventures of Captain Alatriste'' saga. During the battle, Abel Moreno Gómez's " La Madrugá" is playing as the defeated army's march and this is where it is assumed that Alatriste dies. The plot of the film has elements from each of the five books published up to the premiere, and it maintains the same storyline for the main characters. It includes excerpts from the future books of the saga.

Cast

Antonio Resines Antonio Fernández Resines (born 7 August 1954) is a Spanish film and television actor. Resines made his feature film debut in 1980 in ''La paloma azul'', also featuring in '' Opera prima'' and ''La mano negra''. He gained early notoriety in th ...

, originally slated to appear as Saldaña, almost retired from the entire movie due to a traffic accident; however, he makes a

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

in the

as a

musketeer A musketeer ( ) was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern warfare, particularly in Europe, as they normally comprised the majority of their infantry. The musketeer was a precursor to the rifl ...

officer.

Reception

Critical response

''Alatriste'' has an approval rating of 17% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 6 reviews, and an average rating of 4.1/10.

Awards and nominations

, - , align = "center" rowspan = "17" , 2007 , , 12th Forqué Award , , colspan = "2" ,

Best Film The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

, , , , , - , rowspan = "15" , 21st Goya Awards , , colspan = "2" ,

, , , , rowspan = "15" , , - , Best Actor , , Viggo Mortensen , , , - ,

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

, , Agustín Díaz Yanes , , , - , Best Adapted Screenplay , , Agustín Díaz Yanes , , , - , Best Supporting Actor , , Juan Echanove , , , - , Best Supporting Actress , , Ariadna Gil , , , - , Best Production Supervision , , Cristina Zumárraga , , , - , Best Original Score , , Roque Baños , , , - ,

Best Art Direction The Academy Award for Best Production Design recognizes achievement for art direction in film. The category's original name was Best Art Direction, but was changed to its current name in 2012 for the 85th Academy Awards. This change resulted fro ...

, , Benjamín Fernández , , , - , Best Costume Design , , Francesca Sartori , , , - ,

Best Cinematography The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best ...

, , , , , - , Best Editing , , José Salcedo , , , - , Best Makeup and Hairstyles , , José Luis Pérez , , , - ,

Best Sound The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

, , Dominique Hennequin, Patrice Grisolet, Pierre Gamet , , , - , Best Special Effects , ,

Reyes Abades Reyes Abades (25 July 1949 – 1 February 2018) was a Spanish specialist in special effects. He won nine Goya Awards. Abades worked on more than 300 productions. He contributed to the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1992 Summer Olympics in ...

, Rafael Solorzano , , , - , 16th Actors and Actresses Union Awards , , Best Film Actor in a Minor Role , , Javier Cámara , , , ,

References

External links

*
Official Arturo Pérez-Reverte's website
{{Authority control 2006 films 2000s historical drama films 2000s war drama films 2000s action drama films Films based on historical novels Films based on military novels Films based on romance novels Films based on Spanish novels Films based on works by Arturo Pérez-Reverte Films set in 1624 Films set in 1643 Films set in Spain Films set in the Netherlands Films shot in Madrid Spanish action drama films Historical action films Spanish epic films Spanish historical drama films Spanish war drama films 2000s Spanish-language films Spanish swashbuckler films Films scored by Roque Baños Films directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes 2006 drama films Films produced by Álvaro Augustin Works based on Spanish novels 2000s Spanish films Cultural depictions of Charles I of England Cultural depictions of Philip IV of Spain Cultural depictions of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham