La Casa De Papel

Directed by : Jesus Colmenar, Alex Rodrigo, Alejandro Bazzano, Miguel Ángel Vivas, Javier Quintas

Language: Spanish

Year: 2017

Genre: Crime drama, thriller, heist

Created by: Álex Pina

Release : Antenna 3 (2017)
                  Netflix (2018-)

Synopsis

A criminal mastermind who goes by the name ”The Professor” has a plan to pull off the biggest heist in recorded history -- to print billions of euros in the royal mint of Spain. To help him carry out the ambitious plan, he recruits right people with certain abilities and who has nothing to lose. The group of thieves takes hostages to aid in their negotiations with the authorities, who strategize to come up with a way to capture The Professor. As more time elapses, the robbers prepare for a showdown with the police.

My view

'La casa de papel' (paper house) is a Spanish heist thriller, in other words it could be described as an incredibly tense and outstanding piece of entertainment. Every episode leads to the next, building up the storyline before the breathtaking and explosive finale. It has been a while since a series of this genre has kept our spirits up to this height.

The characters are written in a way that, it is riddled with believable flaws and beliefs that give an extra dimension to their personal life. The character representation of each actors are very subtle and perfect. Each characters filled in the gap one another. The development of each character is one of the most important thing that makes the show stand out.

The series was originally released by Antenna 3, a Spanish TV channel. The rights of the series was later on bought by Netflix and released as 2 seasons of 13 and 9 episodes respectively.

The opening shot shows us one of the main characters Tokyo, who is seen on the run, and is advertently approached by a mysterious man(later known as The Professor), who seems to know a bit too much about her past, offers her an interesting job. A proposition, if you will. Having nothing to lose, she chose to accept it. She then joins the rest of the gang containing seven others.Taking a page from the fabulous Quentin Tarantino movie, Reservoir dogs, the thieves agree that real names and personal information must be off the limits. Each one of them takes the name of a city. Together, they are ready to pull of the greatest heist in history.

 Their mission was simple :- To gain access to the Factory of Moneda and Timbre and steal 2400 million euros in cash.

The brain of the operation was the professor. He stayed behind to be the eyes and ears on the outside and those inside the factory gives a unique vantage point for the audience keeping the show feeling excited all over.

With her narrative importance, the story is moved ahead by Tokyo. But other characters also steps-up at the right time throughout the series. This blending of character importance makes the viewers confusing for who to root for. The audacious character of police detective Raquel starts to swing between exasperation and steely gazed focus through the show. As her suspicion grows, so many too does the liability of her character. Opposite to Raquel, the character of Berlin becomes unstable and unlikeable as the story improvise. Later on incidents inside the factory leads to anxious moments which makes it even more intriguing. The professor outsmarting the authorities is seen all over the show, this makes the viewers believe that the professor has seek out every possible delusion to his plan.

The clever usage of character perspectives makes the series unique. Even the characters of being the muscles, both Helsinki and Oslo portrays valuable and sentimental roles at times rather than just being thugs. The character of Nairobi, Moscow, Denver, Rio are also illustrated charmingly.

La Casa De Papel is an intimate and impressive entertaining TV show. I, personally would recommend the viewers to watch the Spanish version, which is the dialect of this show. This must be a benchmark for upcoming crime thrilling projects. The announcement of the 3rd season has made the fans even more joyous.

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