Infiltrating ETA was an almost impossible task. However, one woman did. Arantxa Berradre, Spanish police officer, spent six long years in the Donosti Commandone of the most active and dangerous members of the terrorist organization. His work required not only boundless courage, but also extraordinary mental strength. Today, his story comes to the cinema with Infiltrada, the film which promises to leave an impression on the public with a faithful portrait of the years of lead and the fight against ETA.
The film, directed by Arantxa Echevarria, recounts Berradre’s mission to provide the police with crucial information about the organization’s movements and plans. “Keeping a lie for this long is very complicated”says Luis Tosar, one of the protagonists of the film. Tosar plays an officer who must send Berradre on the operation, aware of the extreme risks. In one of the tensest scenes, his character warns: “You will be infiltrated. Which means if you mess up, you could end up in jail or worse. The risk of ending up with a bullet in the back of the head will always be .” be there.”there”.
The Years of Lead were a period marked by a level of violence never seen before in Spain. The murder of Gregorio Ordoñezpolitical leader and key figure in the fight against ETA, is one of the most heartbreaking moments in the film. “We filmed in the same bar where Ordoñez’s murder happened,” says Carolina Yuste, who plays Berradre. “Holy shit, suddenly it’s like it’s taking on a different temperature.” This reality, tangible and cruel, permeates every image of the film.
The scenario explores not only the functioning of Berradre, but also the emotional and psychological tensions of live a double life. No police officer could look her in the eye, a necessary gesture to protect her identity and avoid any emotional betrayal. Echevarria describes the situation as “an absolute limit”. The officer lived surrounded by those who toasted the deaths of his fellow officers, always under constant threat of discovery.
Through The Infiltrator, the cast and crew wanted to give visibility to a real, deep and dark story. “Knowing that everything in the story is real left me perplexed”says Íñigo Gastesi, who is also part of the cast. The film reveals what few people knew: that in a world where mistrust reigned, a woman like Arantxa Berradre was never suspected. “If they told you that this waitress was an ETA infiltrator, you would believe it. Well, ETA is more or less the same thing. They would never suspect a woman,” Tosar says in the ‘one of the dialogues.
The Infiltrator opens this Friday in theaterspromising not only to thrill, but also to shed light on a dark period in Spain’s recent history.
