Captain Alatriste The Spanish Musketeer

Title: Captain Alatriste The Spanish Musketeer (15)

Year: 2006

Running Time: 155 minutes

Director: Agustin Diaz Yanes

Cast: Viggo Mortensen (Diego Alatriste), Elena Anaya (Angelica De Alquezar), Unax Ugalde (Inigo Balboa)

Notes: Also known as Alatriste. Won five awards. In Spanish.

Rating: 9

Thoughts:   The Spanish soldier mercenary, Captain Alatriste, battles for his King in Flanders and beyond, during the Thirty Years War.

This feels like you are in the midst of the age, with everything looking superb. There's a grubby feel to it all, and the whole piece is full of realism.

Mortensen is excellent and broods well amidst all the vaguely bleak atmospheres. He is then superbly supported by the rest of the cast.

But as well as his acting it is his easy use of Spanish, and even more so that he uses a Spanish accent different to the one he is more familiar with. I have it on good authority that he is as authentic as the native speakers beside him.

The film is long but spans a lot of action, with some significant battles that are brutally realistic. I have to say that it never feels like it is plodding with plenty of action to help support the progressing narrative.

This is an interesting time and has been captured superbly. The film is incredibly watchable even with subtitles and just looks amazing.