“A thriller about ladies with scarves“, this is how the director defined her film Paula Cons. Based on the disturbing story of the shipwreck that took place in 1921 off the Galician coast, The Island of Lies immerses us in the mystery that surrounded the sinking of the Santa Isabel, also known as the “Galician Titanic”. A period thriller, starring Nerea Barros and Darío Grandinetti, which can be seen on RTVE Play.
What happens after a shipwreck? That is the enigma of the film. On the night of January 1, 1921, near the island of Sálvora, in the Ría de Arousa, the steamship Santa Isabel sank, with 268 people on board heading to Buenos Aires. 213 people died. At that time, there were no men on the island because they celebrated the new year on the mainland. There were three women, almost girls, who saved more than 50 people setting out to sea in a small boat, braving the six-meter waves, the thick fog and the sharp rocks, in total darkness. Were Cipriana Oujo Maneiro, Josefa Parada and María Fernández Oujo 24, 16 and 14 years old respectively.
The Island of Lies (2020)
Between fiction and reality
Paula, whom we knew from her documentaries like The unknown battle (2017) or The Diana Quer case, 500 days (2018) confesses that this episode fascinated her: “When a colleague from Radio Nacional told me the story, I couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be true. So I immediately decided to tell his story, but I also decided to mix the real data with other authentic cases of shipwrecks in Galicia, which seems like a mythical topic to me. I am also very interested in the anthropological part of the film: how they were, what their life was like, where they lived“, said the director in an interview for RTVE.es.
The winner of a Goya, Nerea Barros (The minimal island), plays María, one of those three women: “It’s amazing that we have completely forgotten this story -he assures-. For me the island of Sálvora, San Vicente and that entire area is very special because I have spent my summer there all my life and despite that I had no idea what happened. People hardly know the history and Those who remember it have a distorted version of what happenedbecause family and friends did not want to talk about it for years, as a great-granddaughter of one of the women confessed to us.
But, as often happens in many cases of heroic acts, after the initial recognition of their feat, the women will be harassed by a journalist (Dario Grandinetti) who suspects that numerous unknowns are hidden behind this mysterious shipwreck. The film could have been configured as a drama, but Cons gives the film a noir air that turns these three women into Marvel-style superheroines.
Nerea Barros and Victoria Teijeiro in an image from the film
A movie to restore memory
In this sense, The island of lies It is also a tribute to those brave women who had to face the harsh judgment of men. “They were three fantastic women who faced death and did something that men said was impossible, He believed that that was why their feat was covered up and they were condemned to oblivion.“, points out Cons.
Don’t miss the story of a shipwreck that shook and changed the life of the island of Sálvora forever. The island of lies (2020) is available for free at RTVE Play. Discover this and the more than 300 movies available in our catalog.
