Alatriste

Alatriste
Alatriste
	20th Century Fox
Release date	1 September 2006;
Running time	145 minutes
Country	Spain
Languages	Spanish; Dutch
Box office	$23 million

Alatriste is a 2006 Spanish epic historical war film directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes, based on the main character of a series of novels written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Adventures of Captain Alatriste (Las aventuras del Capitán Alatriste).

The film, which stars

Twentieth Century Fox has bought the rights to the film.^[1]^[2]

The film was released on 1 September 2006.

Plot

The story takes place during the 17th century in the

Dutch Revolt. His friend Lope Balboa is killed during the fighting, and Alatriste returns to Madrid

where he takes Lope's young son Íñigo into his care.

Alatriste is hired along with a Sicilian assassin named Gualterio Malatesta to kill the

King Charles I of England) and his companion, the Duke of Buckingham. The job is contracted by Emilio Bocanegra and Luis de Alquézar (uncle of Íñigo's love interest, Angélica de Alquézar). Alatriste finally returns to the Netherlands in 1624 (although the movie states 1625) and participates in the final battles leading to Breda's surrender. After returning to Spain, Íñigo wants to elope with Angélica, but she gets cold feet at the last moment. Alatriste has a romance with actress María de Castro. Because she was disappointed that she failed to marry him, she became the lover of Philip IV. Alatriste ends up crossing swords with Guadalmedina, a friend of the king. In the end, the object of their attention falls ill with syphilis

. The duel with his friend Martín Saldaña and the punishment of Íñigo in the galleys are part of the film's spectacular ending.

The last scenes are at the Battle of Rocroi (May 1643), described in the last book of The Adventures of Captain Alatriste saga. During the battle, Abel Moreno Gómez's "La Madrugá" is playing as the defeated army's march and this is where it is assumed that Alatriste dies.

The plot of the film has elements from each of the five books published up to the premiere, and it maintains the same storyline for the main characters. It includes excerpts from the future books of the saga.

Cast

Viggo Mortensen as Captain Diego Alatriste
Javier Cámara as Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares
Eduardo Noriega as the Count of Guadalmedina
Juan Echanove as the poet Francisco de Quevedo
Unax Ugalde as Íñigo de Balboa, Alatriste's Basque squire
Elena Anaya as Angélica de Alquézar, a teenaged femme fatale
Ariadna Gil as María de Castro, Alatriste's actress lover
Eduard Fernández as Sebastián Copons, Alatriste's closest friend
Francesc Garrido as Martín Saldaña, the local sheriff
Blanca Portillo as the inquisitor fray Emilio Bocanegra
Antonio Dechent as Curro Garrote, a soldier friend of Alastriste
Paco Tous as Francisco de Melo
Enrico Lo Verso as Gualterio Malatesta, an Italian swordsman and Alatriste's nemesis
Luis Zahera as Luis Pereira, a Portuguese soldier^[3]
Pilar Bardem as nun^[3]
Simon Cohen as Philip IV^[3]
Pilar López de Ayala as Malatesta's wife^[3]

Antonio Resines, originally slated to appear as Saldaña, almost retired from the entire movie due to a traffic accident; however, he makes a cameo appearance in the Battle of Rocroi as a musketeer officer.

Reception

Critical response

Alatriste has an approval rating of 17% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 6 reviews, and an average rating of 4.1/10.^[4]

Awards and nominations


Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2007	12th Forqué Award	Best Film		Nominated	^[5]
	21st Goya Awards	Best Film		Nominated	^[6]
		Best Actor	Viggo Mortensen	Nominated
		Best Director	Agustín Díaz Yanes	Nominated
		Best Adapted Screenplay	Agustín Díaz Yanes	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actor	Juan Echanove	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress	Ariadna Gil	Nominated
		Best Production Supervision	Cristina Zumárraga	Won
		Best Original Score	Roque Baños	Nominated
		Best Art Direction	Benjamín Fernández	Won
		Best Costume Design	Francesca Sartori	Won
		Best Cinematography	Paco Femenía [ca]	Nominated
		Best Editing	José Salcedo	Nominated
		Best Makeup and Hairstyles	José Luis Pérez	Nominated
		Best Sound	Dominique Hennequin, Patrice Grisolet, Pierre Gamet	Nominated
		Best Special Effects	Reyes Abades, Rafael Solorzano	Nominated
	16th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actor in a Minor Role	Javier Cámara	Nominated	^[7]^[8]