El sustituto

Another solid addition to the ranks of excellent crime thrillers from Spain, which has produced a good number of them in the last decade.

An energetic young police detective transfers to a sleepy seaside village, hoping the sun and surf will be good for his young daughter's health. But he doesn't fit in well with the lazy, corrupt local police. And whatever really happened to his predecessor, whose death has been hushed up?

This is set in the twilight years of Fascist rule in Spain, so there are election tensions, right wing violence, Basque separatists, drug overdoses, and a closed community of mysterious rich German emigres. Early on, our hero notices and stops a terrorist action, whose story also takes time to unravel.

Highly recommended.

It started well, but the ending was not satisfying.

The buildup was so well paced in the first hour. I thought that the next hour will bring some amazing action. But nothing happened. Everything went flat. All that buildup for nothing.

I wanted to see some shooting, some drama, some explosions, something thrilling. They made me hate the villains so badly and in the end none of them died. That made me angry enough. I was left unsatisfied. And that sucks hard.

I liked the main character and the doctor, they had a nice chemistry. And the villains were very annoying and I really wanted them dead for their past sadistic crimes. Pity that didn't happen. I would have rated this movie at 8 (good).

This movie is internationally known as "The Replacemet". Based on true events, it is about a large group of high-placed nazi war criminals that are "hiding" in a village on the spanish coast. This including the infamous Nazi SS doctor Albert Heim, whom during WW2 performed the most cruel experiments on human prisoners in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, and whom is known as "dr. Death" or "mini Mengele". Grim facts like lamps made of human skin or human heads that are used as paper weight, are also attributed to Heim. This person is truely a showcase for how evil a person can be. The extremely painful procedure of murdering prisoners by injecting petrol (fuel) in the heart can also be attributed to him.

Taking place in the period around the 1982 Fifa World Cup that was held in Spain, it is the story of how a newly assigned police detective / investigator discovered this large group of nazi war criminals. It shows that in post-Franco's Spain - the fascist dictatorship headed by Franco that started in WW2 and ended with his death in 1975 - there is still a lot of tollerance from far-right supporters.

This movie is an excellent example of how many nazi war criminals were able to get away after WW2 through the so-called "Ratlines". Famous destinations are the countries in South America - particularly Argentina. This movie shows that Spain, which amazingly remained under Franco's fascist dictatorship after WW2, was also a location favored by Nazi war criminals. The latter at least until the media, and jewish organizations like the Simon Wiesenthal Institute, put more and more pressure on the authorities to search for these war criminals whom were hiding under a false identity amongst the population.

One can clearly see that the makers of this movie put much attention and detail in making it period authentic. By making the events unfold during the 1982 Fifa World Cup - which was organized by Spain - made it all the more authentic and in my opinion one of the best examples of how one can make the viewer believe he (or she) is watching events that unfolded during that period. As far as I can judge, all vehicles, clothing and other props fitted well with the 1982 period. I found the acting not stellar, but decent enough. I think the acting lacks a bit in the display of emotions, especially when it comes to people being hurt or dying. It is as if these events didn't matter to the personalities in the movie...

What I liked very very much is the totally unexpected ending of the movie. I am not going to spoil the experience, but I can already tell that you probably will be amazed at how the movie unfolds at the end.

Overall, I find this movie a great example of how Nazi war criminals were successfully able to get away after the end of WW2. I personally never expected that formerly high-ranking Nazi war criminals - whom were e.g. Sentenced in absence during the Nuremburg Trials - were still living a free life in Spain during the early 80's. As such, it clearly deserves a spot in my list of best movies of WW2.

Concluding, I score this movie 7.1/10, which results in an IMDb rating of 7 stars.

The film is set mainly in the summer of 1982. A young and hardened police officer, Andrés (Ricardo Gómez), from the toughest neighborhoods of Madrid accepts a posting to a small fishing village, hoping to cure his sick daughter and gain some peace of mind in the process. Once there, Andrés forms a professional relationship with another police officer (Pere Ponce) who suffers from cancer and becomes involved in a romance with the doctor (Vicky Luengo) who treats him. Meanwhile, he will be involved in the investigation of the strange murder of the inspector whom he is now supposed to replace. Investigations lead him to a group of elderly Nazis who live a heavenly and happy retirement on the coast.

An interesting film because although the central plot is fictional, many of its individual elements in relation to the activities of the Nazis are real, in fact many of them remained on the Levantine Coast, in this regard it is worth mentioning the Nazi hero 'Otto Skorzeny' who lived a prosperous life in Spain. The essential thing is that the suggestion of his story, inspired by real events, remains unchanged, and that his links are not only with the past. In fact, in an interview director Óscar Aibar stated that four films could have been made with the material he collected about the Nazis in Denia. However, Aibar bases his narrative on long flashbacks and focusing mainly on the friendship between the two main roles, and on Andrés' romantic relationship with a doctor, without analyzing and explaining in depth the political collusion. He focuses rather on creating a narrative rhythm interspersed with its ups and downs and which initially captivates the viewer, but which after the first half hour surrenders to the comforts of the script, with too many events and plot twists. It eventually shines thanks to an agile narrative, some acceptable action scenes and a good recreation of the eighties era, being filmed in Dénia, Alicante, Valencian Community. However, the film lacks the necessary narrative economy, so it does not tire itself in the repetitiveness of many scenes, focusing heavily on the relationship between Andrés and Columbo, and that is why it is not necessary to see Andrés always with a bottle in his hand to understand that he is an alcoholic, it is not necessary to see Columbo constantly coughing to remember that he is seriously ill; you don't have to watch Andrés' wife become incredibly irritating to justify her affair with the doctor. As if this were not enough, at the end melodramatic situations and some unnecessary car chases are added, in this case between a sports Mercedes and an old Seat, trying unsuccessfully to emulate typical American action films. Along with the leading trio who give a good performance, there is a good plethora of supporting characters, such as: Pol López, Joaquín Climent, Nuria Herrero, Bruna Cusí, Guillermo Montesinos, Marta Poveda and special mention for the veteran Susi Sánchez. The film shines in all the technical sections, with top-level professionals, such as cameraman Alejandro de Pablo, and adding an exciting as well as evocative musical score by Manuel Roland.

"The Replacement" describes an alarming and terrifying reality with the persistence of pro-Nazi cells in many European countries, but it does not have the weight to make a deeper analysis of the phenomenon. Still only a superficial representation and subject to the stereotypes of the action thriller, the existence of Nazis in the modern world is much more entertainingly developed in films such as 'Odessa', 'The Children of Brazil'.

The film was professionally written and directed by Oscar Aibar, although it has some failures and cracks. Oscar is a craftsman who has directed some decent films, all of them with special and sufficiently interesting themes, dealing with all kinds of genres, such as Spaghetti/Science Fiction: ¨Atolladero¨, Fantasy: ¨El Bosque¨, Thriller: ¨Rumors¨, and Comedy /Drama: ¨Platillos Volante¨, ¨El Gran Vazquez¨ and ¨La Maquina de Bailar¨, the last two starring Santiago Segura. Rating 'El sustituto' or 'The Replacement' (2021) : 6/10, acceptable and passable. The film will appeal to fans of Spanish thrillers.