The Candidate (2018)

A Spanish politician whose high-class lifestyle is based on nefarious and illegal business threatens to break his entire party after a newspaper expose him to the public eye.

Director:

Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Writers:

Isabel Peña, Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Stars:

Antonio de la Torre, Mónica López, Josep Maria Pou

32 wins & 29 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Antonio de la Torre	...	Manuel
Mónica López	...	Inés
Josep Maria Pou	...	Frías (as José María Pou)
Bárbara Lennie	...	Amaia Marín
Nacho Fresneda	...	Paco
Ana Wagener	...	La Ceballos
Luis Zahera	...	Cabrera
Francisco Reyes	...	Alvarado
María de Nati	...	Nati
David Lorente	...	Gallardo
Paco Revilla	...	Fernando
Sonia Almarcha	...	Susana
Andrés Lima	...	Bermejo
Óscar de la Fuente	...	Pareja
Laia Manzanares	...	Lucía

Storyline

2007. Manuel López-Vidal is a veteran Spanish politician and the right-hand of Frías, autonomous community's president (working as member of Spain's governing party), who he has an upper high-class lifestyle with his wife Inés and his teen daughter Nati. But behind of his long carrier and the respect of his party's partners and friends as Cabrera, Bermejo, Gallardo and Fernando, truth is totally different: Manuel is a crooked and corrupt man who since many years ago uses his politic position together his friends deviating foreign aids and getting money by means of any illegal way. When Gallardo is arrested accused of fraud and politic corruption, Manuel warms all his friends about to keep silence hoping that the police forgets the case by not founding new evidences. But when it's revealed in the newspapers that himself has been recorded in personal conversations talking about it, the fictional world of respect and honor created by Manuel falls down. With the elections closing the next...

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Plot Keywords:

spain | proof | fuel station | civil guard | male frontal nudity | 

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Taglines:

Kings fall. Realms continue.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the politic party never is revealed, as well as if it's right-wing or left-wing.

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Connections

Featured in Premios Goya 33 edición (2019)

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Soundtracks

El Reino, Pt. 2
Written by Olivier Arson
Performed by Olivier Arson
Courtesy by Quartet Records

User Reviews

Interesting, though a bit uneven.

''El Reino'' is a political thriller from Spain, directed by the talented Rodrigo Sorogoyen who also gave us the brilliant ''Que Dios nos perdone'', one of the best European thrillers of the decade. In this movie though he doesn't achieve the top level of his previous work. The film's protagonist, Manuel, -an exceptional performance once again by Antonio de la Torre- strives in order to stay alive in the country's political scene after being accused for a major scandal involving embezzlement and money laundering. The frenetic tempo of the first 45 minutes confused me and made me lost count of the names and ranks of the various characters which were introduced, but after Manuel's indictment the movie starts to feel more comprehensible and the story more concise. The editing is super-fast and even the soundtrack adds to the movie's rapid pace. We follow Mauel, who is present in nearly every single scene of the movie, witnessing his attempts to save himself as well as to extract revenge from the people who think that deceived him and made him a scapegoat. The last ten minutes, Manuel's tv interview, conclude the film in the best possible way with the journalist's final question remaining hanging for the viewer to think and dwell on. The picture of the Spanish political life in ''El Reino'' is not a flattering one as the high-ranking politicians are depicted as cruel, profiteering gangsters who enjoy luxurious lives at the expense of Spanish people who prefer to ignore the country's totally unreliable political system as they have to deal with the problems in their everyday lives which are caused by the nation's governments. There are points in the movie that offer food for thought and many viewers, especially those who live in Europe's southern countries, will recognize many of the depicted blemishes as their own. I would definitely give the movie a higher rating if it were not for the confusion of the first half which has a rather bewildering effect to the viewer because of the reasons I stated above. Overall, I believe that ''El Reino'' is a film worthy of recommendation despite its flaws, and it will appeal most to the fans of Spanish crime/thriller films as well as to those who enjoy political thrillers.

Details

Country:

Spain France

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

28 September 2018 (Spain)

Also Known As:

The Candidate

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

EUR4,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,206,101

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tornasol Films, Atresmedia Cine, Bowfinger International Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1