Oro

I frankly don't understand the bad reviews concerning this action adventure film. This is for me a very good, gritty, taut movie, with plenty of action and riveting scenes, good characters depiction and symphony. This is not light hearted but rather gloomy, and desperate. You still can compare this one to Carlos Saura's ELDORADO and Werner Herzog's AGUIRRE; you can compare but that's all, the two latest movies are a bit - or even more - better than this one. Let's be fair. Anyway, this movie is worth watching, definitely, especially if you are fond of Spanish adventures in Amazonia forest in lust for gold. There were not so many of them.

A misfit expedition formed by Spanish soldiers down the Amazon rivers searching for the fabled city created with gold , Dorado-alike , to claim it to the Spanish Empire . It is set in the 16th century , King Carlos de Ausburgo of España sends a bunch of Spanish soldiers to the new continent to locate Teziutlan , a legendary golden city . Alone in the rainforest and without a help , soldiers face not only indigenous tribes but the manifest hate themselves by their respective birth places . Commanded by the ruthless and insane Don Gonzalo (José Manuel Cervino) who leads the Spanish group in search of the fabulous city , accompanied by his young wife Doña Ana (Barbara Lennie) who is assisted by a maid , La Parda (Anna Castillo) . The elderly and weak health Don Gonzalo becomes in danger Doña Ana , who is disputed by Alférez Gorriamendi, (Oscar Jaenada) Gonzalo's right-hand , and soldier Martín Dávila (Raul Arevalo) . The travelers who are over-dressed for the heat in their old world clothes and armour must survive the crises of jungle life and human frailty . After to realize that Viceroy of Port Prince has send another bunch looking for them commanded by Juan Medrano after to accuse Don Gonzalo of betrayal ; Dávila, Gorriamendi and other soldiers as Sargento Bastaurrés (Jose Coronado) and Barbate (Antonio Dechent) must decide if fight against Medrano's and his men or continue until Teziutlan . Other import soldiers in the dangerous expedition are : Iturbe (Juan José Ballesta) , El Escribano or writer of their feats called Licenciado Ulzama (Andrés Gertrúdix) and the bigotry priest , Pater Vargas (Luis Callejo) . The river , jungle scenery and several dangers dominate the motley characters in the risked journey . But the twisted loves , envy , ambition , double-crosses , fights among them will reveal more violent than the own rainforest and the indigenous tribes .

This historical flick set in Amazon rainforest, 1538 , results to be a slow-moving and interesting film that contains epic events , impressive battles , thrills , betrayals , violence and wonderful scenarios in which take place the death clashes in a neverending search for a city built with gold similar to El Dorado . The picture has been criticized for its plodding plot in which emerges a strong rivalry and hate among the violent adventurers , with several moments of tension where the travelers must survive the crises of jungle life and human frailty . Good performance from a great main cast as Raúl Arévalo , Bárbara Lennie , Oscar Jaenada José Coronado .It contains an atmospheric and evocative musical score Javier Limón . Colorful but dark cinematography by the great cameraman Paco Femina . The plot bears remarkable resemblance to classic ¨Aguirre¨ by Werner Herzog with Klaus Kinski and in 1988 was realized another version titled ¨El Dorado¨ by Carlos Saura ; because of a similarity in plot and characters, the movie suffers by comparison but stands on its own as a less fantastic version of the same travel of obsessed adventurers .

Agustin Diaz Yanes' return to top form , with an intelligent and engaging script which uses exciting situations to give us a good movie in slow pacing , engaging as well as violent events , plot twists and that kept me entertained for the almost 110 minutes of duration . Diaz Yanes is a fine craftsman , thanks to his reputation as screenwriter and the support of Victoria Abril he was able to set up his first film as director: "Nobody Will Speak of Us When We're Dead " that became the greatest hit of Spanish cinema at its release in 1995 and the Festival San Sebastian , including best actress to Victoria Abril . Yanes subsequently directed the successful ¨Alatriste¨ , "Don't Tempt Me" and ¨Solo Quiero Caminar¨ that failed at Spanish box office

I don't understand how the best Spanish actors can act so badly . The worst performance in their careers.

Acting was decent and the story is not bad,but the script was absolutely horrible so is directing of this movie. It's very boring. Not sure what else to add to this. There isn't much going on other than lots of pointless walking. It starts in nowhere, leads nowhere and ends nowhere. Could've been a great piece with some action, some dialogs that connected you to any of the characters. As people die, you just don't care. There's just 1 drama during the movie and it had nothing to do with the movie, which was another pointless thing in the script. Just quite a bit lack of common sense and that lack of common sense haunted the whole movie during a lot of the scenes that made little sense.

It easily could've been a 6 or 7 with just some thought put into it.

In the intro to 'Oro', the writer says of the protagonists:

"they were harsh, arrogant, cruel, often divided by quarrels... They killed without scruples and died without protest, in search of gold..."

The rest of the movie is a long, plodding death march illustrating the above points in one brutal incident after another. I was attracted to 'Oro' because of the involvement of Arturo Pérez-Reverte, author of the 'Alatriste' novels, and Agustín Díaz Yanes, the director and screenwriter of the movie version with Viggo Mortensen. As it turn outs though, the cast of 'Oro' is basically a bunch of minor characters from the Alatriste novels while the only thing it has in common with the Mortensen movie is the stabby, throat-slitting viciousness of the fight scenes. The artistry and athleticism of the swordsmen in 'Captain Alatriste' is nowhere to be seen.

I gave 'Oro' a five on the IMDb scale. It's worth seeing if you're really into the period or the creative people involved; if not, you probably want to give it a pass.