Arka Mukhopadhyay
Daniel Calparsoro (‘Blinded,’ ‘Combustion’) pained his nuanced action thriller ‘Centauro’ with a zeal for speed and a cerebral ambiance. The narrative follows Rafa, a promising motorbike racer who seeks to make it big in the professional circuit. Rafa is on the verge of a breakthrough while his life takes a wrong turn. Natalie, the mother of his child, owes a lot of dough to an organized cartel for a botched delivery, and Rafa must settle the score by doing what he does best – driving. The movie’s energy is intoxicating, the overall value is on the higher end, and the camerawork is drop-dead gorgeous. Therefore, while you may have seen too many action thrillers to know the truth, you still may wonder if the movie holds an ounce of truth in the real world. In that case, let us delve further.
Is Centauro a True Story?
No, ‘Centauro’ is not based on a true story. The movie is fictional, but it holds some objective truth. The tense ambiance of the circuit comes off as realistic, especially when contrasted with the fast-paced nature of everyday life. In the end, the movie draws attention to the department of characterization. However, you may be astonished to know that the narrative is far from original. Calparsoro directed the film from a screenplay penned by Simon Moutairou (‘Black Box,’ ‘The Assault’). In the process, he primarily borrowed from the 2017 Yann Gozlan film ‘Burn Out.’
The script for the film was penned by Gozlan (‘Captifs,’ ‘Black Box’) alongside Guillaume Lemans (‘Point Blank,’ ‘The Night Eats the World’). As the Netflix movie is an official remake of the 2017 film, the movie retains Gozlan and Lemans in the credits. Jérémie Guez wrote the original novel ‘Balancé Dans Les Cordes,’ and the young author is already quite a master at churning out dark and gripping thrillers. The narrative follows the life of Tony, chronicling his downward spiral into a criminal underworld.
In the movie, Tony has become Rafa, and Frech has become Spanish, but the core story has remained the same in both the book and the film. The author has a penchant for suburban stories chronicling people caught between a rock and a hard place. His first book, ‘Paris la Nuit’ shows an early manifestation of the themes where the author feels comfortable dwelling. Both the novels comprise aspects like a torn-apart family, a suburban environment, and the motif of settling the score. As these diverse creative minds culminate in the movie, it becomes a stark neon-tinted noir thriller complete with an underdog protagonist.
The film also succeeds in doing something only the best of the movies can – that is, to delve into the mindscape of its protagonist. His inner mindscape also dictates the speed, and we see the ups and downs of his career and family life as he paces out of control. The bikes used in the movie are also real – from Kawasaki Ninja 1000 to Honda TMX – as is the venue of the races. The crew filmed the scenes in MotorLand Aragón – the 5.344 km in Teruel is the seat of the globally popular motorsport event MotoGP.
Finally, as the cast ensemble delivered their best, the ambiance was authentic. Àlex Monner stands out in the role of Rafa. The actor of ‘Below Zero’ and ‘A Thief’s Daughter’ rose to fame in Netflix’s chart-smashing teen drama ‘Elite,’ where he played the role of Felipe. Therefore, considering all the aspects, the movie seems to hold some realism about the racing world, although it does not claim to be blatant documentation.
Read More: Where Was Centauro Filmed?
