Les repentis

A sensitive exploration of the emotional fallout of terrorism.

Maixabel Lasa was widowed in 2000 when her husband Juan Maria Jauregui, a progressive former politician, was killed by three gunmen while eating lunch with a friend. Eleven years later, she has agreed to meet two of her husband's murderers as part of a short-lived state program for reconciliation.

The true enemy is never the other side, but rather our hatred of it.

... well can you? No pun intended of course. A great drama based on a true story. I did not know much about the things going on - sorry that went on a long time ago, in Spain. A lot of unrest, a lot of mayhem and murder and criminality. If people are being used for purposes they are not even aware of themselves ... well it is easy to brainwash people who are easily swayed ... but what does it do with them mentally, psychologically? What about the victims and their families? Of course you can't depict all, so this concentrates on a few people.

Luis Tosar is an amazing actor - and the woman main character, whose name I am not familiar with, but who is also very well known in her country ... I mean both are just grand. And they have to be ... very hard stuff to watch. Very hard stuff to make ... us relate to. Even the griefing process .... when are you able to forgive? And how much? It really has a lot of questions and it does not shy away from a very ... well let's call it controversial ending ... it does not take it easy ... but there is no easy when something despicable has ruined your life ...

This film revolves around an extremely sorrowful period of the Spanish history set in the first decade of the 2000´s. It was a time fraught with huge suffering and pain caused by the indiscriminate murders of innocent people by a ruthless terrorist Basque group called ETA.

Iciar Bollain is the female director of this interesting piece of work, who tells the story of Maixabel, a courageous female victim of this mob. Maixabel makes the difficult and controversial decision to arrange a meeting with one of the responsibles for his husband's death at her request so as to tell him how she truly feels.

Iciar succeeds in conveying an honest effort to show respect towards the victims, but she also wants to show how even a horrible monster who has been brainwashed and raised in an extremely toxic environment, is capable of feeling regret and redemption.

One of the things that I liked about the film the most, apart from the solid perfomances of the cast, was the fact that most of the time it is addressed from a perspective which is strictly human and personal. The political or ideological connotations that it might have had, are deliberately overlooked or , in the best of the cases, relegated to a secondary role. In other words, in my opinion it is merely about the internal evolution of two people and their crucial meeting: The exemplary wife whose husband was cowardly killed and his tormented murderer.

All in all, this is a good story told in a generally tactful way which is worth watching despite the fact that there were a few lines of dialogue which made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Recommended.

The political film "Maixabel" was partially based on real events during the dark period in the Spanish Basque region. The movie describes the separatist ETA terrorist attack and how it affected one family in particular. Based on that premise, the movie focus on the search for inner peace on both sides of terrorism: the victim and the perpetrator.

Director and writer Icíar Bollaín tells the story of Maixabel Lasa (Blanca Portillo), widow of socialist politician José María Jáuregui, and the repentance of two of the three ETA members (Luis Carrasco and Ibon Etxezarreta) who participated in the 2000 murder of her husband. The movie works well mainly due to the performance of the main actors, i.e. During the encounters between the widow and the ETA members, and the moving final scene. The movie's main idea is repentance, and how it developed in the lives of terrorists.

Beautiful movie!!!!

Had great expectations when i saw the rating. I also think very highly of the protagonist. Let's be honest. The first part of the movie is mind-numingly boring in my opinion. If you are the impatient type i wouldn't recommend it. Political drama thrillers are not for everyone (including myself). BUT. The second half (after about an hour) is such an improvement, almost like watching a different film. Thank god i didn't shut down the television and decided to watch until the end. A touching movie, which will reward the patient ones. The ending leaves you with a warm feeling of optimism. Well done.