HE port of barcelona receive annually 70 million tons of goods. In 2023, 10 thousand kilos of cocaine stored in containers were seized from all over the world, but it is estimated that this figure does not even represent 10 percent of the drugs entering. This makes the Catalan capital one of the most important gateways to Europe. the drug trafficking business. Lluís QuilezThe director of the movie ‘Bajocero’ had been thinking about developing a story on this subject for a while. a family and a criminal organization And when he learned this information, he was clear: He was going to put it in his hometown, the port of Barcelona. Conclusion: ‘iron hand’a series that premiered netflix this Friday, March 15th.
The title refers to its protagonist (Eduard Fernandez), both literally and figuratively. Character, Joaquin ManchadoIt owns the port’s main terminal and exploits it to make a profit by establishing a network to facilitate the entry of this position. secret illegal posts among routine products. Since he is missing a hand, he wears an orthopedic prosthesis, but at the same time he rules his family and his criminal network employees with an iron fist, played by a very strong cast: Chino Darín, Sergi López, Enric Auquer, Jame Lorente and Natalia de Molina.
The disappearance of something important cocaine shipment will unleash a bloody war disturbed by murders and i will start this ‘Thriller’ full of action, revenge and betrayal. “We took ideas inspired by reality, from the cases of dock workers, customs officials and infiltrated police, but this is a fictional story,” explains Quílez. “There has been no work depicting this since the Olympics,” he reflects. More Street, Port Barcelona, Raval, Parallel, Barceloneta, as well as other times in the Quinqui cinema, were depicted very much.”
But ‘The Iron Hand’ shows not only Barcelona today, but also the Barcelona of decades ago. ‘flashbacks’ It serves to investigate the origins of the characters. In fact, each episode focuses on one of them, helping to piece together the complex Manchado family puzzle in a series that takes an unconventional set of plots as its central plot.
an unreachable place
“All The locations of the series are natural and what really matters is the port,” says Quílez about a long shoot. five months and it was not easy at all because of the place chosen to place it. “The port is a very attractive place, but it is very inaccessible and complex“explains the director. “I think we shot a movie. empties“It’s a technically complex process,” he adds.
Thus the port machines became almost another character of the ‘Iron Hand’. “There seems to be an ambition on the part of the TV series. be very realistic and depicting things in an almost documentary look so that we can show how certain processes work and connect from there to a fictional story.”
A fiction sprinkled on top violence and scenario changes. Eduard Fernández summarizes: “It’s a game of mutual distrust to see if they will betray you.” The ‘godfather’ of Barcelona’s port. Chino Darín adds: “It’s a puzzle where there are always intrigues and what appears to be the case turns out not to be so.”
without speaking Catalan
Although it was shot in Barcelona, no Catalan voice is heard in the series. “In fiction, when one tries depicting bilingualism I don’t think this is done naturally; I find it very forced, rigid and entrenched,” Quílez justifies. “I didn’t feel confident doing it because sometimes it’s more of a distraction. “I didn’t want to do this to achieve anything, but what I wanted was for people to enter into the ‘Iron Hand’ dream,” he concludes.