Captain Alatriste: The Spanish Musketeer (2006)

and the word not describe only the genre of film but the experience of viewer. because , after you read the book, the expectations are basic glasses for see the adaptation. and, in this case, all is impeccable. the atmosphere, the performances, the fight scenes, Viggo Mortensen who gives the right traits of the lead hero. and the Spain in a special moment of its history. an admirable film for the courage to give a realistic fresco of a time. for the science to explore the details. for impressive message about values and politic and justice and force. and the sparkles of the novel. clear, authentic, convincing. so,an adventure.

Bear in mind that Alatriste is one of the few Spanish action/adventure movies out there. That's not the typical genre for Spanish filmmakers due mainly to budget reason as it's really hard to compete with Hollywood's blockbusters.If you have read the books or are familiar with Spanish history during 17th century you'll really enjoy and fully appreciate this gem. Atmosphere = real 17th century. Costumes = great. Music = great. Acting = great. Directing = great (for Spanish cinema). Script = good (if you read the books, otherwise may look incomplete). It would be better to do it in 2 or 3 movies.

This lengthy film will likely disappoint North American readers who have yet to read the fifth in the Antonio Perez-Reverte historical series chronicling the life and death of one Captain Diego Alatriste. Then again very few will be aware that a film has been made, and that it stars VIGGO MORTENSON, best known here for his on-going role in the hugely successful adaption of J. R. R. TOLKIEN's THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy.This film attempts to compact the first five novels into one epic yet personal picture about Spain at the height of its powers. Unfortunately the fourth work in the series THE KING'S GOLD has only just become available in hardcover, AND it may be another two years before the fifth arrives! Significantly, I feel that American readers could find many parallels to this Spain and their own country. One memorable piece of verse says something like, Spain plundered the whole world alone, But now the whole world waits to plunder Spain alone.That said, I give this film low marks because of the difficulties my girlfriend and I had in viewing it. The film begins in Flanders and sets up the lifelong relationship between the fiercely independent Alatriste and Inigo, the son of a deceased comrade in arms. This situation which makes up most of the first novel is over and done with very quickly. So too is the introduction of the masterful Italian swordsman MALATESTA who is commissioned along with ALATRISTE to assassinate two visiting English members of the royalty.Somehow within the first hour we get to book four, THE KING'S GOLD. This is especially poorly done, as Alatriste's motivation for taking on the suicidal task is not properly explained and neither is his recruiting of the team. In the film a very moving celebration of life - for a condemned man - is somehow dismissed, and shown only because Alatriste approaches the man for help.So when the late night/early morning assault on the ship carrying gold from the Americas takes place we know of the men, and worse, the dutiful accountant - OLMEDILLA, if I remember correctly - written in such detail is invisible.As to the one great love in Alatriste's life, I do not recall the woman MARIA in any of the books, and she is really given short shrift in the film, though it is obvious that the Captain makes great sacrifices for her.Two other major concerns: no one ever addresses anyone else by name and so you have no idea who is who, and the girl Angelica is dark haired and not blonde with ringlets and green eyes! The running time of this film is frequently listed as 147 minutes but my copy courtesy of Xploited Video only runs 138 minutes (the credits are lengthy and accompanied by music that adds nothing).The first four books in the series probably total a 1000 pages, and sadly it shows. Thank you for your patience in reading this lengthy discourse.

"Alatriste" is a masterpiece that will undoubtedly be misunderstood for years to come...though set in the same period as the more familiar and light-hearted "Three Musketeers", it is one of the few films that realistically portrays life in that era. This is a much darker view of the age: only the wealthy elite live well, and the degree to which others toady to them is the degree to which they too, will live well and succeed. Justice is rare; starvation and poverty, religious fanaticism is rife. Spain, the great power of Europe, is well on the road to economic collapse after years of squandering its wealth and manpower in costly wars under the weak and incompetent Hapsburg monarch Felipe IV. Its valiant surviving veterans like Alatriste are given nothing but the proud but empty title of hidalgo and are reduced, if not to begging, to hiring themselves out for private vendettas and treacherous assassinations plotted by one or another vicious "noble" faction, thus incurring the enmity of another faction. This is not your usual flamboyantly flimsy swashbuckler, but a grim and gritty picture of the near destitute and perilous life of a soldier who must support himself as best he can with the only skills he has as a mercenery for hire in civilian life. This is more of a film depicting the specific problems of life in this period and setting than it is about a story plot; it is a profound meditation on a great and glorious imperialist nation eroding from within, slowly going the course of ruin and as such it gives one of the most unforgettable glimpses of a bygone age ever to be captured on film. It's a magnificent work of art but will probably be appreciated only by those with a great interest in history which, alas, is not the general public.