"Las Ninas" ("The Girls") is an account of the infamous "Alcasser Murders" in which three teenaged girls went missing and were later found tortured and murdered. This was a huge story in Spain and caused a massive media frenzy (there is a Netflix documentary about it). Shortly after the bodies were found, suspicion fell on Miguel Ricart and Anotonio Angles. Angles has never been found (and remains one of Interpol's top fugitives, although many people believe that he is dead), but Ricart confessed, gave details of what happened, and was eventually imprisoned for the crimes. In addition, the father of one of the girls has, with the aid of some less than scrupulous media people, spread a massive conspiracy theory that the girls were actually kidnapped by a sex and torture cult -- a cult that includes rich and powerful people -- and that Ricart and Angles are just convenient pawns.
"Las Ninas" ignores these dubious theories and focuses on a dramatization of the official account, which is based on Ricart's confession. And, wow, is it a brutal film. I've seen lots of intense, disturbing horror films and this one is up there. The movie deals with Ricart getting ready to be released (Spanish law limits the time someone can spend in prison, so he was, in fact, released) and then goes back and shows us what happened. No names have been changed, this is supposed to be exactly what happened and it does not flinch. Every actor does an excellent job and it is almost overwhelming to watch.
One word of warning -- it's in black and white, which I guess is to make it a little easier to watch (I suspect that is a post-production decision since some publicity pictures were in color). If I had a criticism of the movie, it's that it did skate very close to asking myself "Is this actually entertainment?"
Very well done and recommended, but prepare yourself for what you're going to get yourself into if you decide to watch it.
