“What reasons could parents who gave their daughter the best education that could be given to her and who loved her above all things have to decide to kill her?” This question is asked by Rosario Porto’s defense lawyer during the trial for the Asunta crime in the last chapter of the series that Netflix has just released about this well-known crime that took place on September 21, 2013 in Galicia. This question is the one that he plans throughout this series produced by Bambú and Netflix and that, like the chilling real case on which it is based, gives the viewer few answers, many unknowns and some certainty.
The same day it is offered to the public The Asunta case The play premieres at Madrid’s Valle-Inclán theater First blood, directed and written by María Velasco, whose starting point is the murder of the girl Laura Domingo in Burgos in 1991. This case was left without judging the culprit, although the main suspect to date is also a very close relative of the little girl . During two moments in the work it is said that “the strange is one step away from becoming familiar and vice versa.” And the thing is that someone who we think is strange can be familiar to us when we meet him, but someone who is familiar to us can also seem like a stranger to us at any time. With the murder of Asunta, this statement is similarly observed.
The series created by Ramón Campos, Gema R. Neira, Jon de la Cuesta and David Orea Arribas, directed by Carlos Sedes and Jaboco Martínez, exposes the real case of the crime from the day the parents showed up at the police station denouncing the disappearance of his daughter until the verdict of the popular jury two years later. Of course, as those responsible clarify through a text at the end of each chapter, the judicial and police plots have been fictionalized in order to adapt to the narrative rhythm of the series. Made up of six episodes of about 50 minutes each, this Netflix co-production joins the bandwagon of countless crime series based on real events that have proliferated on platforms for a few years now. This case, in addition, already had its praiseworthy documentary series The Asunta case: Operation Nenúfardirected by León Siminiani and also distributed by Netflix.
We are not going to assess, for the umpteenth time, the suitability of this type of series (soon we will also see The King of Cachopo on the same platform), but we will answer the question about what it contributes, cinematically speaking, The Asunta case. The work runs at a good pace on the path of thrilleroffering viewers the expected doses of intrigue and the cliffhanger typical of the genre. The parallel plots contribute little to the entire miniseries, which places the focus with efficiency and time management on the case to be addressed from the first minute; five episodes for the investigation and one dedicated to the trial. The drama is also present, as well as the reflection and/or denunciation about parent-child relationships, evil, the singularities of family units, the sensationalism of the media and its interference in investigations or the work of the judiciary. All this without contributing anything new to each issue.
However, what is truly remarkable about The Asunta case They are the interpretations of their actors. Candela Peña, playing Rosario Porto, and Tristán Ulloa, doing the same as Alfonso Basterra, give us two wonderful performances of great height beyond the impressive characterization of both. It is also worth highlighting the always solvent Javier Gutiérrez and Alicia Borrachero in a state of grace. For them it is worth watching.
