''Rescue Under Fire'' () is a 2017 Spanish

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 Adolfo Martínez set in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. It stars Ariadna Gil, Raúl Mérida,

Roberto Álamo Roberto Martínez Felipe (born 1 January 1970), better known as Roberto Álamo, is a Spanish actor who has appeared in more than fifty films since 1996. Álamo won the Goya Award for Best Actor for his performance as Javier Alfaro in ''May God S ...

and Antonio Garrido.

Plot

The plot dramatises a real August 2012 incident in

north of Bala Murghab involving the rescue of a

Spanish Army The Spanish Army () is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest Standing army, active armies – dating back to the late 15th century. The Spanish Army has existed ...

's wrecked Super Puma helicopter from the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

insurgency.

Cast

Production

''Rescue Under Fire'' was produced by Tornasol Films, Castafiore Films, Hernández y Fernández and Rescate AIE, and it had the participation of

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...

and Movistar+, support from the Spanish

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

and

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

, collaboration of ICAA and funding from ICO. It had a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

5 million budget. It was shot in locations of the

province of Almería Almería (, also ; ) is a province of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It was named after the Arab ruler of Taifa, Banu Al-Miri. It is bordered by the provinces of Granada, Murcia, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is the homony ...

(including the

Tabernas Desert The Tabernas Desert () is a desert located within Spain's south-eastern province of Almería. It is in the interior, about north of the provincial capital Almería, in the Tabernas municipality in Andalusia. It is the only desert in Europe, ...

and the "Álvarez de Sotomayor" Military Base in Viator), the

Madrid region The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...

( Colmenar Viejo) as well as in

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

(primarily indoor footage).

Release

Distributed by

eOne Films Lionsgate Canada is a Canadian entertainment company and a subsidiary of Lionsgate Studios. Based in Toronto, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition and production of films and television series. The company began on June 1, 1973 ...

, the film was theatrically released in Spain on 10 March 2017.

Reception

Andrea G. Bermejo of '' Cinemanía'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, considering the (military) film to be an oddity in a Spanish cinema currently ranging from the thriller to the comedy, also writing that the film manages to achieve "an accurate portrait of the military world that some will surely label as propagandistic and recruiting". Marta Medina of ''

El Confidencial ''El Confidencial'' is a Spanish-language general-information digital newspaper located in Spain, specializing in economic, financial and political news. It was established as an online newspaper in 2001. Its target readership is professional ...

'' assessed that Martínez "manages to choreograph and plan credible and exciting battles of a scale rarely seen in a Spanish production". Raquel Hernández Luján of ''

HobbyConsolas ''HobbyConsolas'' is a Spanish video game magazine founded in 1991 by Hobby Press and published by Axel Springer SE. The first issue appeared in October 1991. The monthly magazine offers information about games for all consoles, and since 2012 ha ...

'' scored a 78 out of 100 points rating ("good"), praising the production design, the frenetic pace and the soundness of the characters.

Accolades

, - , align = "center" rowspan = "4" , 2018 , , rowspan = "2" , 73rd CEC Medals , , Best New Director , , Adolfo Martínez , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Music , , Roque Baños , , , - , rowspan = "2" ,

32nd Goya Awards The 32nd Goya Awards were presented at the Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel in Madrid on 3 February 2018, to honour the best in Spanish films of 2017. Joaquín Reyes (Spanish actor), Joaquín Reyes and Ernesto Sevilla hosted the awards ceremony. ...

, , Best Original Song , , "Rap Zona Hostil" by Fenyxxx and Roque Baños , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Special Effects , , Reyes Abades, Curro Muñoz , ,

References

{{authority control Tornasol Films films 2017 war drama films War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) films Films shot in the Community of Madrid Films shot in the province of Almería Films shot in the Canary Islands Spanish war drama films 2010s Spanish-language films 2010s Spanish films