Aahana Swrup
Netflix’s ‘Untamed Royals’ delves into the hedonistic life of a wealthy heir who has the most decadent of pleasures available to him at his fingertips. Nonetheless, Xavier Fernandez’s lavish lifestyle still falls short, compelling the young boy to seek out the thrill of committing petty crimes with his best friend, Gerardo. Consequently, the pair stage a violent robbery at Xavier’s mansion. However, once his family recruits the help of an inquisitive detective, Rodrigo Majarrez, Xavier realizes he needs to keep his stories straight and avoid suspicions at all costs.
As it turns out, consequences are hard to come by for the privileged, yet someone still has to pay the price for their crimes. The Spanish thriller film presents a psychologically fascinating account of a group of deeply bored and equally troubled young kids whose actions, though perplexing, remain predictable. Therefore, the story finds itself charting an exploration of privilege and power imbalance within the context of class difference. However, does Xavier Fernandez’s story, which is surrounded by such realistically relevant themes, hold any basis in reality?
Untamed Royals is an Exploration of Realistic Class Dynamics
The characters and their narratives presented within ‘Untamed Royals,’ originally titled ‘Delincuentes,’ are not based on real-life individuals or incidents. Instead, the film remains a work of fiction brought to the screen by screenwriter Santiago Mohar Volkow under Humberto Hinojosa Ozcariz’s direction. The story’s central premise revolves around a spoiled rich kid exploiting his privilege and condemning others for his actions. The same brings realistic relevancy to the story through themes of class disparity and socio-economic bias within the justice system. Nonetheless, despite the effortless sense of realism that the narrative dispels, the film remains free of any ties to real-life events.
For the same reason, Xavier’s story mostly mines its authenticity and real-life relevancy through its careful exploration of the socially charged themes prevalent throughout the tale. In the film, Xavier and his friend, Gerardo, consistently partake in illegal activities, such as robbery, extortion, and even kidnapping, as a way to chase after a thrill while getting back at their families. However, despite their fairly amateurish methods, the duo easily escape any consequences, shielded as they are by their privilege. Yet, in their stead, the employed workers within the mansion find themselves carrying the weight of their crimes.
Consequently, Xavier and Gerardo’s narrative remains an example and an allegory of realistic class disparity and its adverse effects on the poorer classes. The most evident instance of the same arrives when Xavier’s father dismisses even the idea of Gerardo’s involvement in something unsavory while actively blaming his house staff without any proof and only his prejudices. Additionally, the film further cements its narrative’s realism by ensuring Xavier and Gerardo remain fleshed-out and complex characters rather than caricatures of the socio-economic message attached to them. Thus, ‘Untamed Royals’ fictionalizes a story relevant to real life without directly farming inspiration from any real-life events.
Untamed Royals Touches Upon Wealth Entitlement and Privilege
Even though ‘Untamed Royals’ finds its narrative center as a morality-driven story about class inequality, it distinguishes itself from its contemporaries by adopting the perspective of the exploiters rather than the exploited. Throughout the film, Xavier and Gerardo helm the tale as they chase after increasingly immoral and illegal thrills without any care about the aftermath. As per a report in The Journal of Research on Adolescence from 2012, the delinquency levels in youth living in wealthy neighborhoods were higher than those of middle-class youth.
Numerous examples of the same phenomenon have been observed in real life, leading to the birth of the metaphorical illness and social condition of “affluenza.” The defining factor of this condition and its leading symptoms remains a disconnect between an individual’s understanding of his actions and the consequences they may reap. The individuals involved in this phenomenon usually tend to be affluent young kids and teenagers.
Thus, Xavier and Gerardo remain prime, if fictional, examples of the same. In fact, the film doubles down on its exploration of crime among the young and wealthy by withholding consequences from its characters to the very end. Even in the dreaded aftermath of the duos’ crimes, neither character loses anything of substance. Instead, the retribution is handed out to innocent, more vulnerable individuals. Consequently, the film expertly utilizes fictional narratives to highlight a realistic phenomenon.
Read More: Best Spanish Movies on Netflix
