Two cops lost in the deep south of Spain. One serial killer to catch. A lot of secrets and lies to disclose.Two cops lost in the deep south of Spain. One serial killer to catch. A lot of secrets and lies to disclose.Two cops lost in the deep south of Spain. One serial killer to catch. A lot of secrets and lies to disclose.
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
33K
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- 60 wins & 43 nominations
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Storyline
1980. In a little town close to Coto of Doñana (Andalusia, south to Spain), two teen girls have disappeared. The father of one of the girls, who have connections with important people in the forces of the law, gets that two police detectives of homicides from Madrid are assigned to the mission to find the girls if they are alive, or find the assassin if they appear died. The detectives are Pedro Suárez and Juan Robles. While that Suárez is a young, taciturn and circumspect agent in a Spain that it tries to find a new identity as democratic country after General Franco's death in 1975, Robles is a veteran, funny and expeditious agent, with a mysterious past as alleged member of Franco's Armed Police dismantled in 1978. Unable to reconcile one with each other, Suárez and Robles find trapped by the hostile environment of a place where the old Franco's methods and customs still alive, and where they two aren't welcome. When the girls appears died, the following investigation move the cops to discover deaths happened before of other teen girls that they never were investigated. While Suárez meets beautiful Rocío, an enigmatic woman of the town, Robles learns to move by the town looking for information, learning about rich and powerful people that make their will with total impunity. But according the clues signs Quini, a young of the town charming and womanizer related with the girls, a journalist arrives to the town to report about the case, contacting Suárez about it and about Robles' past. Without more options, Suárez and Robles will have to leave their differences apart not only for solve the case, but not dying in the try. —Chockys
- Taglines
- Life. Death. Salvation.
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- Certificate
- TV-MA
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaAerial photographs at the beginning of the film and others that you can see over it, were digitalized by Israel Millan from photographs of Hector Garrido. This photographer has published a book, "Armonía fractal de Doñana y las marismas" (Fractal Harmony of Doñana and marshes) which includes some of the images used in the film. The images correspond to various marshes of Andalucia, such as the ones of Coto Doñana and the Salinas de San Fernando in Cádiz.
- ConnectionsFeatured in La isla mínima: Making of (2015)
- SoundtracksYes Sir, I Can Boogie
Written by Frank Dostal and Rolf Soja
© Magazine Music Verlag GMBH.
Authorised by Peermusic Española S.A.U.
Performed by Baccara
Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment España, S.L.
Top review
Highly engaging murder mystery
In the vain of True Detective (2014) but with the intensity (and pretentiousness) dialled down a couple of notches. This was compulsive, engaging and entertaining throughout.
I watched with the original Spanish audio and Spanish subtitles so I can't really comment on the quality of the script because my level of understanding was at about 70-80%.
The pacing was even, there weren't any unnecessarily drawn out scenes and everybody behaved in a realistic manner. The acting from the leads was superb but some of the supporting cast were quite wooden and most of the photographs used in the film were extremely posed. Those are minor critiques though; the only thing that really irks me is that no matter how well these films are made, and no matter how sensitively the subject matter is broached, they always feel a little gratuitous, hence why they usually lose one or two points from me. I watched The Treatment (2014) a while ago and both of these films currently have roughly the same IMDb score. Clearly then, ratings are hugely affected by the emotional impact of dealing with sexual abuse and murder. La Isla Mínima was, in my opinion, markedly better than The Treatment and I hope its rating increases to reflect this.
Another reason this film was more satisfying than others in its genre is that the police behave in a realistic manner - granted this is part of the commentary on the culture in this part of the world and what police have to resort to in order to protect their own people, but it still felt satisfying from a plot perspective and as an audience member. The final confrontation was horrific and yet entirely necessary. The film needed it and this was also entirely in keeping with the characters and the message of the film. Obviously, each will take away their own views but for me, the 'very' end made me question my earlier conviction that the final confrontation was 'justified': isn't that what everyone says to justify their actions?
If you enjoy films in this genre then it's an obvious choice 8/10.
I watched with the original Spanish audio and Spanish subtitles so I can't really comment on the quality of the script because my level of understanding was at about 70-80%.
The pacing was even, there weren't any unnecessarily drawn out scenes and everybody behaved in a realistic manner. The acting from the leads was superb but some of the supporting cast were quite wooden and most of the photographs used in the film were extremely posed. Those are minor critiques though; the only thing that really irks me is that no matter how well these films are made, and no matter how sensitively the subject matter is broached, they always feel a little gratuitous, hence why they usually lose one or two points from me. I watched The Treatment (2014) a while ago and both of these films currently have roughly the same IMDb score. Clearly then, ratings are hugely affected by the emotional impact of dealing with sexual abuse and murder. La Isla Mínima was, in my opinion, markedly better than The Treatment and I hope its rating increases to reflect this.
Another reason this film was more satisfying than others in its genre is that the police behave in a realistic manner - granted this is part of the commentary on the culture in this part of the world and what police have to resort to in order to protect their own people, but it still felt satisfying from a plot perspective and as an audience member. The final confrontation was horrific and yet entirely necessary. The film needed it and this was also entirely in keeping with the characters and the message of the film. Obviously, each will take away their own views but for me, the 'very' end made me question my earlier conviction that the final confrontation was 'justified': isn't that what everyone says to justify their actions?
If you enjoy films in this genre then it's an obvious choice 8/10.
helpful•5016
- MovieSonic
- Jan 28, 2015
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Мініатюрний острів
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- €4,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $9,014,591
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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