REVIEW: 70 BINLADENS
by Elena Anele (*)
70 BINLADENS AKA 70 BIG ONES, apart from being equals to 35,000 €, is latest movie by Koldo Serra (The Backwoods, GUERNIKA), who directed this film written by Javier Echániz (MUERTOS COMUNES, SKIZO), Asier Guerricaechebarría (ERREMENTARI) and Juan Antonio Gil Bengoa (TIEMPO SIN AIRE).
This movie after being premiered at Sitges Film Fest was released in Spain in 2018 thanks to Filmax (REC). Behind production tasks we can find also familiar names such as Sayaka Producciones (Colossal, Guernika) and Pokeepsie Films (Álex de la Iglesia and Carolina Bang).
70 BINLADENS is a thriller that starts with a desperate woman, Raquel (Emma Suarez), trying to get 35,000 € to rescue her daughter from some dangerous men. The only way she can obtain the money is getting a loan from a bank, as it seems she has some properties even though she is unemployed. As the credit is going to be processed two robbers (Hugo Silva and Nathalie Poza) break into the bank to get some quick and easy money. But… things will become a little more complicated than expected.
Raquel needs the money to be in her account before the day ends, and some hostages are not what they are thought. Also, a policeman – who is waiting for one of the costumers, now hostage to meet him out of the bank- is shot, and his dead body remains in the middle of the street calling the law enforcement attention, and two experienced detectives come to work the situation out: Eva (Bárbara Goenaga) and Carlos (Bárbara Goenaga).
It is a thrilling movie, full of action and surprises. The thing I like the most is that it is a choral work in which every piece is ensembled perfectly in the whole of the story. The characters are greatly-built and it makes you stay stick to the chair the whole time, because nothing and nobody are what they seem. Full of plot twists you will reach an unexpected end in which all truth may not be revealed, and as some are being manipulated in fiction we might be so as spectators.
Thing I like least could be the score. I know there is a great composer behind: Fernando Velázquez (The Orphanage, A Monster Calls), but in this kind of realistic stories I am starting to go against soundtracks, even in some fantasy films I cannot see the point of it. But I must admit that it is not disturbing at all and the music sounds amazing.
70 BINLADENS is on DVD and BluRay thanks to Divisa HV in Region B including English subtitles. Also you can purchase its soundtrack on Amazon: https://www.amazon.es/70-Binladens-Banda-Sonora-Original/dp/B07PKRN5TH
REVIEW EN ESPAÑOL:
__________________________________________________________
Elena Anele is the woman in charge of SPANISHFEAR.COM, Horror Rises from Spain / El podcast surge de la tumba and Un Fan de Paul Naschy . A literature and cinema researcher, finishing her postgraduate studies with a thesis about the mystic filmmaker José Val del Omar. She has published in different media and books as Fangoria or Hidden Horror. She has also been in charge of several translations including Javier Trujillo’s complete works, La Mano Film Fest, The Man who Saw Frankenstein Cry and many more.
