A new film titled "Cronos", directed by Fernando González Molina, reconstructs the police operation launched by Catalonia's regional police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, after the terrorist attacks that struck Barcelona and Cambrils in August 2017. The film opens in cinemas this week.
Just before 5pm on 17 August 2017, on a hot summer afternoon, a white van driven by an Islamist terrorist sped along Barcelona's Las Ramblas promenade, covering the 600 metres between Buen Suceso street and the Miró pavement. The attack killed sixteen people and injured 130, leaving a trauma on the city and the country that took years to recover from.
Hours later, in the early morning of 17 to 18 August, at around 1:15am, a second attack took place on the seafront promenade in Cambrils, in the province of Tarragona. Five terrorists were shot dead by police after trying to break through a Mossos d'Esquadra checkpoint and running over six people, three of them officers. A woman died after being stabbed.
Almost immediately, the Mossos d'Esquadra activated an operation codenamed Cronos to seal off Barcelona's exits and hunt down those responsible. The operation lasted 124 hours, ending when the last member of the terrorist cell operating in Catalonia, the driver of the van, was shot dead after fleeing to Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, in the province of Barcelona.
A story built on journalistic investigation
Nine years on, "Cronos" reconstructs these events from the perspective of the Catalan regional police. González Molina, known for films including "Palmeras en la Nieve" and "Mi Querida Señorita", said people know far less about what actually happened than they think. He said a lot of information about the full story is missing, and that the film fills those gaps thanks to the investigative work of journalists Nacho Carretero and Arturo Lezcano.
Avoiding gratuitous violence
González Molina, screenwriter Alberto Marini (known for "El 47") and the rest of the production team said one of their main concerns was avoiding sensationalised depictions of blood and violence. The director described it as a very fine line that is difficult to balance. He said the crew kept the camera focused on the faces of the main characters living through the events, rather than on what they saw in the street or found as they moved down Las Ramblas.
González Molina said it was important to remember the story involves real victims who were there and suffered through it, adding that he felt a deep sense of responsibility for what they were portraying and a need to be respectful towards the victims and to get it right for them.
Real characters, dramatised arcs
Although the film stays fully faithful to the facts, according to its director, it is not a documentary. He said that making a film requires ordering events in a way that builds a more emotional narrative. The characters played by Enric Auquer and Diana Gómez are based on real Mossos d'Esquadra officers, and the production worked with the force's collaboration and advice.
González Molina said the character of Ana, played by Mónica López, was built from accounts given by social workers in Ripoll and police officers from the town. He described her as having the most intense emotional arc in the film, explaining that she has a close relationship with the terrorists' family and cannot believe they were capable of the atrocity, illustrating how personal closeness can sometimes get in the way of the right professional decisions.
The political tension of the independence process
Many viewers may have a blurred memory of the attacks, and the reason lies in Catalonia's separatist push known as the Procés. On 6 September 2017, with the tragedy still raw, the Catalan Parliament, located barely two kilometres from where the fatal attack on Las Ramblas took place, approved a law for a self-determination referendum. The disputed vote itself was held on 1 October, and on 27 October then Catalan president Carles Puigdemont made a unilateral declaration of independence that was quickly suspended.
González Molina said this was a very interesting context and that the film portrays it as it happened. He pointed to a struggle for control over information between the Spanish central government and the Catalan regional government, the Generalitat. He said the character of Diana essentially represents the question of who controls the information given to the public, with the Mossos, the central government and the Generalitat all seeking to lead that narrative. He said the film sides with the Mossos, who found themselves confronting both the Generalitat and the central government over control of information, noting that under the Cronos protocol it was the Mossos who were meant to be the ones providing it.
González Molina said that although this attempt to control the narrative provided rich material, it always remained a backdrop for telling the story of the investigation carried out during those 124 hours.
