Juan Madrid reflects on the nature of fascism and the destructive capacity of power in the police thriller “Tánger”
“I’m like a stammering child.” At the age of 56 Malaga writer Juan Madrid is not exactly a novice. Nevertheless, the historian, journalist, scriptwriter and established author admits that he feels like a novice on the big screen. After working on several film adaptations Madrid has jumped into the celluloid deep end headfirst, successfully taking up the challenge of directing his own film. “Tánger” is his visiting card as a film-maker. It is a police story of crime and corruption in which he reflects on the nature of power.
“I start out in this film with an obsession that I’ve had for years, and that is the capacity that power has to be evil, to destroy and to make mincemeat of everyone who tries to push it out of the limelight”. They are Madrid’s words.
Based on fact
Madrid points out that “Tánger” came about after the murder of an immigrant, Lucrecia, in Aravaca in 1992. “That murder, perpetrated by three fascists, one of them a Civil Guard, was the crime that made me write the story. In Spain there are around 250 ‘Nazi’ attacks a year and this is my way of denouncing them”, he stated.
Based on his novel on the same subject, the film has a “fascinating” cast, in the words of its director: Jorge Perugorría, Ana Fernández and Fele Martínez are the leading actors in this story in which José Manuel Cervino and television actor Pablo Puyol also appear. “People spoke very highly of him and when I saw him I knew that he was the right person, capable of mixing tenderness and strength. The fact is that, bearing in mind that it is his first film, he has succeeded”, said Madrid referring to the actor, who also comes from Malaga.
Puyol, who gets completely into the part of the neo fascist, says that the role was a great challenge. “The work was very different from what I do in the TV series and I had to adapt. Playing the part of someone with so much evil in them seemed quite impossible to me.”
Nothing is what it seems
“Tánger” , which takes place in Madrid in the present day, tells the story of Abdul Kader (Perugorría), the son of a former chief of police in the Political-Social Brigade, Ricardo Torres (Cervino), and a beautiful woman from Tangier. Kader returns to Madrid to look after his father’s business, Ejecutivos Tánger. During his stay he discovers that nothing is like he had imagined it. Neither his father, nor his step-brother, nor the agency where he works are what they appear to be.
The writer Juan Madrid has defined himself as “a story teller who is just waiting to seduce the spectator”. In this context, he explained that he has been dreaming of making a film in Malaga for years. “It’s a scheme I have and I should like to complete it”, he admitted.
(source: Sur In English)
