Dhruv Sharma
Thrillers are full of fast-paced conflicts, intense drama, and high stakes action that keeps you at the edge of your seat. A well-structured crime thriller not only keeps you spellbound with its intriguing suspense, but also gives you a glimpse of the darker side of the world. That’s one big reason why we can’t help but obsess over the sub-genre.
That being said, if you have a knack for quintessential noir movies that revolve around the mystery-solving endeavors of quick-witted detectives, you should certainly check out Netflix’s ‘La Corazonada.’ Since almost every fictional tale of crime, in some ways, draws its inspiration from real-life crimes, the ones who have already watched the movie must be wondering if it is based on a true story. Well, here’s the answer to that.
Is La Corazonada Based on a True Story?
No, ‘La Corazonada’ is not based on a true story. It has been adapted from a crime novel titled “La Virgen en tus ojos” (“The Virgin in your eyes” in English) written by Florence Etcheves. The book serves as a prequel to another one of Florence Etcheves’s novels “Cornelia,” which was adapted into a movie titled ‘Perdida’. Although ‘Perdida’ and ‘La Corazonada’ have completely different storylines, their main character, Manuela ‘Pipa’ Pelari, is a common thread that connects them. When it comes to the crime that is depicted in the film, although it never claims to draw inspiration from any real events, it seems to have some similarities with Amanda Knox’s case.
In ‘La Corazonada’, after a teenage girl named Gloriana gets murdered, her lifelong best friend and roommate, Minerva gets convicted for it. The intricacies of the Amanda Knox case are very different, and of course, unlike the movie, the real legal procedurals behind it were far more complex. However, just like Minerva in the movie, Amanda Knox was also convicted for the murder of her friend and roommate. At the age of 20, she was even sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison. This case also caused an international controversy later on, but relevant evidence proved Amanda’s innocence.
Apart from the few minor similarities that the movie seems to have with a real-life case, everything else is fictional. From a fictional standpoint, there are certain details of the movie’s investigative process that one can really appreciate. However, for the most part, even the police procedurals shown in the movie are quite one-dimensional compared to real-life investigations. One aspect of the film that is slightly grounded to reality is the motives of its characters. The film gives you a small glimpse of the inner workings of the killer in its storyline which justifies her psychotic actions and explains why she killed her roommate in the first place. Another aspect that makes its premise feel a lot more realistic is the respectable performance of almost all of its cast members, especially the two leads Joaquín Furriel and Luisana Lopilato.
Read More: Best Netflix Movies Based on True Stories
