Gold (2017 film)

A group of Spanish conquistadores for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor travels through the American jungle, following a route that will lead them to the legendary city of gold of Tezutlan as recorded by a previous expedition. The forty men and women are nominally led by the aging nobleman Don Gonzalo de Baztán and his young wife Ana, but actually commanded by the brutal, gold-hungry veteran conquistador Ensign Juan de Gorriamendi. Tensions start to arise in the group due to the jungle's perils and their own grudges with each other, including the impopularity of Don Gonzalo due to his summary executions and the growing attraction between Ana and one of the soldiers, Italian Wars veteran Martín Dávila, who rivals Gorriamendi for her.

After crossing a river filled with alligators, the expedition is told by messenger Jeromillo that the governor who sanctioned the mission has been deposed, and that his successor has sent another contingent under the command of Captain Juan Medrano to catch up with them, planning to execute Don Gonzalo and override the expedition. In order to avoid Medrano, and by advice of the group's local guide, Chocó auxiliary Mediamano, the group turns towards a territory populated by hostile Carib tribes. However, ultimately deciding against Don Gonzalo's incompetent leadership, the conquistadores revolt against him and have him killed anyway, with Gorriamendi taking over the mission. The ensign also becomes Ana's forceful lover, further digging a trench between Dávila and him.

The group reaches a peaceful tribal village where they find Manuel Requena, a survivor of the first expedition who settled down and started a family with a native woman. Despite their help, events go awry when Jeromillo turns out to be a traitor who had allowed Medrano to follow them, causing the village to be massacred and burned by the pursuers. In retaliation, the expedition organizes an ambush and defeats Medrano's forces, executing the captain and integrating the survivors into their own, dwindling numbers. Afterwards, they continue until Río Grande, which separates them from the region where Tezutlan is supposedly located.

A savage local tribe attacks them next, exerting psychological warfare with poisoned darts and war chants, but the Spaniards counter it with a vihuela song by Dávila's idea and turn the tables on them. The group then attacks the tribe's village, coming victorious in a bloody battle despite being ambushed and outnumbered. However, upon finding cannibalized remnants of Spanish soldiers in the shacks, soldiers led by Gorriamendi and Catholic priest Father Vargas intend to retaliate by executing the village's women and children, causing a scuffle against Dávila in which Mediamano is murdered. As a consequence, rebelling against Charles V's orders, Gorriamendi and his followers try to kill the rest of the conquistadores. Ana dies in the fight, but her sacrifice allows the loyalists to defeat and execute Gorriamendi.

With the expedition now reduced to a four men led by Sergeant Bastaurrés, their route takes them through a battlefield between two tribes hostile to each other. Dávila and soldier Barbate manage to make it out alive, eventually reaching the city of Tezutlan in the Pacific Ocean shore, only to discover the legendary gold city is just a pauper coast village with gold-colored glazed clay roofings. Realizing all was for nothing, and despite knowing they will be probably executed for all the trouble when they return, Dávila takes possession of the territory for the Spanish crown.

Pere Vall of Fotogramas rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, assessing that, while imperfect, the films contains much of the best Díaz Yanes, highlighting the acting duel between Arévalo and Jaenada as the best thing about the film alongside Ballesta's candor.[2]

Javier Ocaña of El País pointed out that "in spite of its obvious virtues, which are not few", there is also something in the film making it fall apart: "its irregularity".[3]

Oti Rodríguez Marchante of ABC rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, deeming it to be "a bitter, pessimistic film, with few moments of greatness", but "which sums up a state of mind and country", likewise assessing that all the actors are superb.[4]

Arturo Pérez-Reverte complained about the film's purported deviation from his short story, tweeting: "in an original story of both epic and cruelty, they forgot the epic."[5] Later in 2019, Reverte added: "in the base script there were cruelty and epic, harshness and light; upon making the film, the team did not see the epic and instead gave out a gang of delinquents. The admirable part vanished."[6]

• List of Spanish films of 2017

• Oro at IMDb
• Oro at AllMovie