Amparo (Adriana Ozores) , a lawyer working as an advisor in a management office and insurance company in Madrid is grieving over a traumatic event in her past. Amparo is fleeing from the pain caused by a traumatic loss due to an accident. She has a dark past that she wants to forget by any means. She takes refuge in the perfect bubble of routine in her job as an administrative and in a life without surprises with her widowed father (Pepe Soriano), until she is forced to defend a judicial case for compensation for death. She will have to react, however, to the world surrounding her when a young man of her acquaintance dies mysteriously while working in a mine. This process, from which she initially tried to flee changes her mind for always. Amparo will take over his case and what she discovers is that the company is trying quietly to buy the tracks of dark activities carried out by the exploited workers. As she digs deeper, she finds herself leading point in a series of events that would involve one of the biggest class action lawsuits in Spanish history against a multi-millionaire corporation. She brought a a powerful law firm to its feet and a huge corporation to its knees !.
A thoughtful, brooding and attractive film dealing with a newcomer lawyer taking over a complex case that sends up becoming an obsession and bringing her back to the world of the living. The film was inspired by the story of how Amparo/Adriana Ozores investigates the ethics of the insidious corporation, as she discovers in the process a world of corruption and illegal measures taken by the company that the men worked for. And including touches on the intricate workings of the legal system, its strength lies in how deeply it appeals to the viewer's emotion, strategically taking the time to zero in on the struggles she faces in her personal life in order to humanize herself, when on the job her abrasive personality could otherwise be off-putting.
This is the debut as a director for the usual screenwriter Ángeles Gónzalez Sinde, after her work in films such as Segunda piel, La vida que te espera, Lagrimas negras or la buena estrella. On this occasion she had the collaboration in the script of the writer Belén Gopegui, author of the novel on which it was based, ¨las razónes de mis amigos¨, also adapted by Sinde. The story is based on real events of a lawyer who reluctantly accepted a case of work accident thanks to which he managed to transform his life and overcome a family trauma. This film belongs to the subgenre of lawyers who fight for the rights of ordinary people by confronting large companies , or attorneys take on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical or insurance companies or powerful law firm, such as: The Verdict by Sidney Lumet, The firm by Sydney Pollack, The Rainmaker by Francis Ford Coppola, An action Civil by Steven Zaillian Erin Brockovich by Steven Soderbergh, Dark Waters by Todd Haynes, among others.
It stands out a solid group of interpreters led by the always convincing Adriana Ozores nominated Goya Award for best actress, after successful films such as El alquimista imaciente, Manolito Gafotas, Cuando vuelvas a mi lado, La hora de los valientes, or Pidele de cuentas al rey, she provides in La suerte dormida (2003) his best acting of a long and prestigious career. Adriana is supported by the young Félix Gómez who appeared in series such as Los Ochenta, Al salir de clase, Padre Coraje, here playing a mining engineering student who advises her and with whom she begins a romantic relationship, and the veteran, now deceased, Argentine actor Pepe Soriano, actor in films such as Esperame en el cielo, Lugares comunes, who plays Amparo's father and the only support of the deeply unfortunate Amparo. Alongside them, other good actors giving brief but decent performances, such as: Pilar Castro, Joaquín Climent, Francesc Orella, Carlos Kaniowsky, Fernando Soto, Alfonso Valleo, Ana Wagener and Felipe García Vélez.
The motion picture was well written/directed by Ángeles Gónzalez Sinde. The film earned her the Goya Award for Best New Director, as well as Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Nominee CEC Award Best Actress, Adriana Ozores, Pepe Soriano Best Supporting Actor; Valladolid International Film Festival 2003 Nominee Golden Spike Best Film Ángeles González Sinde. She is a prestigious screenwriter who was even Minister of Culture. Sinde has directed a few but decent films , such as : El Comensal (The dinner guest 2022) , Una palabra tuya (2008) , ¿Y a mí quién me cuida? (2007), Madrid 11M : Todos íbamos en ese tren (2004), La suerte dormida (2003) . Rating : 6.5/10 .In any case, a very stimulating exercice of style which displays awesome acting and thought-provoking themes.
