''What Lucía Saw'' (; ) is a 2022 Spanish-Colombian drama film directed by

Imanol Uribe Imanol Uribe (born 28 February 1950) is a Basque Spanish screenwriter and film director. He won the Goya Award for Best Director and Best Screenplay for the 1994 thriller '' Running Out of Time''. Biography Born in San Salvador on 28 February ...

which stars

Juana Acosta Juana Acosta Restrepo (born 28 November 1976) is a Colombian and Spanish actress. She has appeared in more than 40 films. Biography Juana Acosta was born in Cali, Valle del Cauca, on 28 November 1976. Her younger sister Valentina has also pu ...

, Juan Carlos Martínez,

Carmelo Gómez Carmelo Gómez Celada (born 2 January 1962) is a Spanish actor. He is the recipient of two Goya Awards, for best supporting actor in '' The Method'' and best leading actor in '' Running Out of Time''. A very popular actor in 1990s Spanish cinem ...

and

Karra Elejalde Carlos Elejalde Garay (born 10 October 1960) better known as Karra Elejalde, is a Spanish actor and occasional filmmaker. Biography Carlos Elejalde Garay was born on 10 October 1960 in Vitoria-Gasteiz. He developed his early acting career on i ...

. It is a dramatization of the

1989 murders of Jesuits in El Salvador During the Salvadoran Civil War, on 16 November 1989, Salvadoran Army soldiers killed six Jesuits and two women, the caretaker's wife and daughter, at their residence on the campus of Central American University (known as UCA El Salvador) in ...

by the Salvadoran Army.

Plot

The plot follows the

Central American University Central American University may refer to: *Central American University, Managua *Central American University, San Salvador José Simeón Cañas Central American University (), also known as UCA El Salvador, is a private Catholic university with ...

's cleaning staff Lucía Barrera de Cerna, a witness of the massacre of the

by the

Salvadoran Army The Salvadoran Army (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Ejército Salvadoreño'') is the land branch and largest of the Armed Forces of El Salvador. History The Football War The Football War (also called The Soccer War or 100-hours War) was a ter ...

, who stood up for truth and refused to cover up the responsibility of the military with the fake attribution of the crime to the FMLN guerrilla by the Salvadoran government, in the midst of the

Salvadoran Civil War The Salvadoran Civil War () was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing guer ...

Cast

Production

The film was originally known as () early in the production stage. The screenplay was penned by Daniel Cebrián. The film was produced by Bowfinger International Pictures, Tornasol Media and Nunca digas nunca AIE alongside 64A Films, and it had the participation of

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...

and

Movistar+ Movistar Plus+ (formerly Movistar+) is the trade name of the subscription platform for digital television owned by , which operates in Spain. The service is distributed via optical fiber and ADSL as well as with satellites such as Astra. The pl ...

and support from ICAA, the Ibermedia programme and

ICO is a 2001 action-adventure game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It was designed and directed by Fumito Ueda, who wanted to create a minimalist game based on a "boy meets girl" concept. Originally ...

. Shooting began by November 2020 in

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

. It later moved to

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, shooting in Valle del Cauca in between

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

and

Buga Buga may refer to: * Buga (surname) Places * Mount Buga, an inactive volcano in Zamboanga del Sur province, the Philippines * Buga (barangay), a barangay in San Miguel Municipality, Bulacan, Philippines * Buga, Valle del Cauca, city and municipa ...

Release

The film was presented on 21 March 2022 at the 25th Málaga Film Festival, as part of the festival's main competition. Distributed by Karma Films, it opened in Spanish theatres on 25 March 2022.

Reception

Sergio F. Pinilla of ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost po ...

'' rated the film with 4 out of 5 stars, underscoring that Acosta shines in Uribe's return to political thriller. Juan Pando of ''

Fotogramas ''Fotogramas'' is a Spanish digital and print film magazine which has been in circulation since 1946. It is one of the early film magazines in Spain. History Founded in Barcelona, it was first published on 15 November 1946 by Antonio Nadal-Rodó ...

'' gave it 3 out of 5 stars, highlighting "the innocence of the protagonist in the face of the surrounding horror", while considering that the negative characters were not sufficiently humanised as a drawback. Manuel J. Lombardo of ''

Diario de Sevilla ''Diario de Sevilla'' is a Spanish newspaper founded in 1999 in Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It i ...

'' gave a negative review and 2 stars, deeming the film, weighed down by several bad decisions, to be a "discursive, superficial, leaden work", "with no real context, political bite nor dramatic tension". Jonathan Holland of ''

ScreenDaily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned ''Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involve ...

'' deemed ''What Lucía Saw'' to be a "well-intentioned but uneven" film, pointing out that some people will wonder "how it is possible to extract so little tension from such a subject".

References

External links

''What Lucía Saw''
at ICAA's ''Catálogo de Cinespañol'' {{authority control Spanish drama films Colombian drama films Tornasol Films films Films set in El Salvador Films set in 1989 Films shot in Navarre Films shot in Colombia Films about the Salvadoran Civil War Bowfinger International Pictures films 2022 drama films 2022 films 2020s Spanish-language films 2020s Spanish films 2020s Colombian films