Like a Spanish True Detective, this period cop thriller from writer/director Alberto Rodriguez follows two ideologically opposed detectives in the moody Andalaz swamplands, forced to come together to find the perpetrator of a series of brutal attacks on two local teenage sisters.
Even though the territory may be more than familiar, the film is notable for its 1980s setting, a time of deep political volatility with Spain still emerging from the Franco era and discovering a new sense of democracy.
Alex Catalán’s cinematography beautifully captures this corner of Spain’s murky landscape (a former stronghold of Franco), skilfully mirroring the two detectives’ increasingly confusing investigation. In the best Gothic tradition, everyone is suspicious: a family member, a neighbour, a colleague in what is slowly revealed to be a corrupt land with its own set of rules.
An echo back to some classic Southern Gothic films such as Angel Heart or Cape Fear, Marshland won no less than 10 Goya Awards this year – a win justly deserved, as Rodriguez has smartly updated the genre by linking Spain’s fascist past with a present that continues to struggle to stay on the right side of the law.
