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Spoiler-free analysis of Operation Black Tide.
Amazon Prime crosses the Atlantic with this true story of drug trafficking aboard a submersible with 123 million euros in cocaine.
Operation Black Tide is the story of an odyssey through the waters of the powerful and unpredictable Atlantic Ocean landing in Galicia, which ends up being more gimmicky, more than effective.
This miniseries, with four chapters of fifty minutes each, tells us, between a thriller and a drama, the homonymous police operation that chased the first narcosubmarine in Europe dedicated to drug trafficking.
However, he takes the opportunity to slip between the fissures some brushstrokes of why and how someone can see himself from one day to the next navigating between life and death, between freedom and condemnation. However, personally, I think this story could have been squeezed much more on the small screen.
What Amazon Prime gives us is an extended movie rather than a series with all the nuances and development that could be extracted from this operation if it had fallen into other hands. With another director and perhaps other writers, things would have improved a couple of points.
Even so, it remains a very edible and dynamic product that can be easily seen after a meal or a long night.
The actors and actresses will not go down in history for their performances, but the effort and dedication of each one of them is appreciated, as well as the use of miscegenation, which quite praises the cast, in addition to giving realism to a plot and scenery that in some other occasion it slips and in others it remains scarce.
Álex González together with Nerea Barros, David Trejos, Nuno Lopes, Lúcia Moniz and Landro Firmino star in a cast that has more cast than time for each one of them. For this reason, characters (incarnated by notable interpreters) who would give much more body to the plots and subplots remain almost mere extras, as in the case of Luis Zahera, Bruno Gagliasso, Miquel Insua or Manuel Manquiña.
TO Alex Gonzalez It is difficult for him to be a scoundrel or a villain or, at least, to seem so all the time. He is not the best we have in Spain today in his generation, but he is very disciplined and sincere in his performances. On Operation Black Tide does a good job, far from memorable, but carries the weight of history with solvency.
For some reason in the middle of the series there is much more emphasis on the drama of the crew than on the police operation itself, which I think is the factor that has been less exploited. The balance and conjugation of the plots at the script level are not very well structured.
Action is lacking, drama is lacking, intensity is lacking, depth is lacking in almost everything, and yet Daniel Calparsoro (Apaches, Hasta el cielo, El Aviso, Cien Años de Perdon) has that strange ability to seduce us with his direct and unassuming cinema. He does not want to be more than he is, with which he does not deceive us and despite the fact that he does not transcend, he entertains.
As for the packaging, we have a product with a solid visual narrative although very saturated at times, a quite acceptable production design and a convincing sound montage and OST. The setting of the Galician coast, the Brazilian jungle and the cold police scene are quite successful and well combined with photography and textures for each occasion.
Spanish-Portuguese co-production that we should see, although we probably won’t recommend or remember the day after tomorrow.