''The Chosen'' ( es, El elegido, link=no) is a 2016 Spanish-Mexican thriller

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film written and directed by

Antonio Chavarrías Antonio Chavarrías (Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, 1956) is a Spanish filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. Some of his most recognised films are '' Childish Games'' (2012), showed at the 2012 Berlinale (2012), '' Celia's Lives'' (2006) ...

. The film stars

Hannah Murray Tegan Lauren-Hannah Murray (born 1 July 1989) is an English people, English actress. She played Cassie in ''Skins (British TV series), Skins'' (2007–2008, 2013) and Gilly (A Song of Ice and Fire), Gilly in the HBO fantasy series ''Game of Thr ...

Alfonso Herrera Alfonso Herrera Rodríguez (, born 28 August 1983) is a Mexican actor and former singer. Born in Mexico City, Herrera made his television debut in ''Clase 406'' in 2002. In the same year, his made film debut in '' Amar te duele'' and won a MT ...

Julian Sands Julian Richard Morley Sands''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, ...

and

Henry Goodman Henry Goodman (born 23 April 1950) is a RADA trained British actor. He has appeared on television and radio, in film and in the theatre. Early life He attended the Central Foundation Boys' School and joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, L ...

. The movie was filmed in

Coyoacán Coyoacán ( , ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic vil ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and its release was scheduled for the first part of 2016. The film is based on the murder of

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

in 1940.

Cast

Ramón Mercader Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río (7 February 1913 – 18 October 1978),Photograph oMercader's Gravestone/ref> more commonly known as Ramón Mercader, was a Spanish communist and NKVD agent, who assassinated Russian Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Tr ...

Sylvia Ageloff Sylvia may refer to: People *Sylvia (given name) *Sylvia (singer), American country music and country pop singer and songwriter *Sylvia Robinson, American singer, record producer, and record label executive *Sylvia Vrethammar, Swedish singer credi ...

Julian Sands Julian Richard Morley Sands''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, ...

as Kotov *

Frances Barber Frances Barber (née Brookes, born 13 May 1958) is an English actress. She received Olivier Award nominations for her work in the plays '' Camille'' (1985), and ''Uncle Vanya'' (1997). Her film appearances include three collaborations with Gar ...

as Natalia *

Emilio Echevarría Emilio Antonio Echevarría Noriega (born 3 July 1944) is a Mexican actor. Career Echevarría began his acting career in 1978 as a member of the Constitution of Art and Society. He appeared in ''Amores Perros'' as the hitman and ex- guerrilla ni ...

as Coronel Salazar *

Alejandro Calva Alejandro Calva (born May 31, 1968 Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico), is a Mexican actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the the ...

David Alfaro Siqueiros David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with ...

Elvira Mínguez Elvira Mínguez (born 23 July 1965) is a Spanish actress. Mínguez has appeared in such films as '' La cacatúa verde'' (1990), '' El carro de heno'' (1991), ''The Lucky Star'', ''Tapas'' (2005) and '' El desconocido'' (2015). Her television cre ...

as Caridad del Río *

Roger Casamajor Roger Casamajor (born 17 December 1976 in La Seu d'Urgell) is a Spanish television, theater and film actor. Life He began his acting career in the theater in Andorra training as part of the company ''Somhiteatre'' and he traveled through Catalo ...

as Carles Vidal *

Luis Rosales Luis Rosales Camacho (31 May 1910 – 24 October 1992) was a Spanish poet and essay writer member of the Generation of '36. He was born in Granada (Spain). He became a member of the Hispanic Society of America and the Royal Spanish Academ ...

as Conserje Montejo *

Javier Godino Javier Godino (born March 11, 1978 in Madrid) is a Spanish actor. Biography Godino began his studies at Juan Carlos Corazza's School of Interpretation. He is a Spanish actor, having worked in both Spanish and international cinematic producti ...

as Costa *

Alexander Holtmann Alexander Holtmann (born 19 August 1978) is a Finnish-German cinema, television and theatre actor known for his characters in Humboldt in Mexico, The Chosen, Capadocia, El Señor de los Cielos, Qué bonito amor, Fortuna, La Patrona amongst other ...

Sheldon Sheldon may refer to: * Sheldon (name), a given name and a surname, and a list of people with the name Places Australia * Sheldon, Queensland *Sheldon Forest, New South Wales United Kingdom *Sheldon, Derbyshire, England *Sheldon, Devon, England * ...

Reception

''The Chosen'' received a 40% fresh rating on the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator website. Andrea G. Bermejo, film reviewer for the Spanish newspaper ''El Mundo'', gave the film three out of five stars, praising the performances of Alfonso Herrera and Hannah Murray. ''The Hollywood Reporter'''s Jonathan Holland wrote that Chavarrias' script covered the historical information "clearly and simply, and without over-falsifying the historical events," but the main character, Ramon Mercader, was "less interesting and a far cry from Alain Delon’s chilling depiction in Joseph Losey’s flawed ''The Assassination of Trotsky."'' The ''World Socialist Web Site'''s David Walsh, on the other hand, compared The Chosen favorably to Losey's "cold, unpleasant work," and praised Chavarrias' historical research and the script's characterization of Mercader.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chosen 2016 films 2016 thriller drama films Mexican thriller drama films Spanish thriller drama films 2010s Spanish-language films 2010s English-language films Cultural depictions of Leon Trotsky