Maixabel (Basque pronunciation:[mai'ʃaβel]) is a 2021 Spanish drama film directed by Icíar Bollaín and co-written by Bollaín and Isa Campo. The film stars Blanca Portillo and Luis Tosar alongside Bruno Sevilla, Urko Olazabal and María Cerezuela and is based on the true story of Maixabel Lasa, a woman whose husband, Juan María Jáuregui, was killed by ETA, a Basque separatist group, and who receives an invitation to talk with the killers of her husband eleven years after.
Plot
Maixabel Lasa loses her husband, Juan María Jáuregui, in 2000 at the hands of the ETA.
She later becomes director of the Basque office for terrorism victims.
Jáuregui's killers have been sentenced to prison where they start to reject violence.
Eleven years later, she receives an invitation for an interview from one of the killers of her husband, who is serving his sentence in a jail at Nanclares de la Oca in Álava, after cutting his ties with the terrorist group. Despite doubts and immense pain, Maixabel accepts the invitation and comes face to face with the man who took her husband's life.[2]
The concept for the film came from the producers, Koldo Zuazua and Juan Moreno, who received a proposal to tell the story of Maixabel Lasa alongside screenwriter Isa Campo in 2018.[3] The film was produced by Kowalski Films and FeelGood, and it had the participation of EiTB, TVE, and Movistar+, support from ICAA, the Basque Government, Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa [es], and the collaboration of the Gipuzkoa Film Commission.[4] It was shot in various locations of Gipuzkoa and Álava in the Basque Country, Spain.[5] The music for the film was composed by Alberto Iglesias, Javier Agirre Erauso was the cinematographer and Mikel Serrano was the production designer, other credits includes Alazne Ameztoy (sound), Clara Bilbao (costumes), Karmele Soler (make-up), Sergio Pérez (hairsytling) and Nacho Ruiz Capillas (editing).[6]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30.[7] Juan Pando of Fotogramas rated the film four out of five stars writing that "Bollaín demonstrates a masterful command of her craft in this, her most well-rounded film".[8] Jonathan Holland from Screendaily commented that the film is "a beautifully judged and sensitive exploration of the emotional fallout of terrorism".[9]
