(Contains some minor spoilers.)
Grupo 7 (Unit 7) is an unpretentious, warts and all, police drama set in Seville, Spain, during the 1980's and 1990's.
It follows a moderately bent group of narcotics detectives who make up unit 7. They are a diverse bunch, all with various personal baggage and mostly tainted ambitions. The drama follows the units efforts to both police and, as they become corrupted, secretly benefit from the burgeoning drug trade.
The units public rise to police stardom, as they make bust after bust, is matched by their personal fall from grace, as those policing the drug gangs effectively becomes one.
The real message at the core of this film is there are no real winners in the drugs trade. The threat of unit 7 getting caught by their bosses is, in the end, hardly any worse than getting away with it. The groups personal cohesion is destroyed and their personal lives follow suit. A point simply but cleverly made in the final scene.
The acting is of a high standard.There are only good performances in this drama. Its downbeat presentation actually makes the casts performance more remarkable, as they have the difficult job of sustaining the guise of ordinary people, faced with extraordinary circumstances. The emotion is raw and this film is, on occasion, touching but always in a rather troubled way.
Eight out of ten from me.
Grupo 7 (Unit 7) is an unpretentious, warts and all, police drama set in Seville, Spain, during the 1980's and 1990's.
It follows a moderately bent group of narcotics detectives who make up unit 7. They are a diverse bunch, all with various personal baggage and mostly tainted ambitions. The drama follows the units efforts to both police and, as they become corrupted, secretly benefit from the burgeoning drug trade.
The units public rise to police stardom, as they make bust after bust, is matched by their personal fall from grace, as those policing the drug gangs effectively becomes one.
The real message at the core of this film is there are no real winners in the drugs trade. The threat of unit 7 getting caught by their bosses is, in the end, hardly any worse than getting away with it. The groups personal cohesion is destroyed and their personal lives follow suit. A point simply but cleverly made in the final scene.
The acting is of a high standard.There are only good performances in this drama. Its downbeat presentation actually makes the casts performance more remarkable, as they have the difficult job of sustaining the guise of ordinary people, faced with extraordinary circumstances. The emotion is raw and this film is, on occasion, touching but always in a rather troubled way.
Eight out of ten from me.