A Man of Action (Un hombre de acción) is a Spanish crime drama film released on Netflix on 30th November. It is directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera from a screenplay written by Patxi Amezcua. The film is said to be loosely based on the real-life of Lucio Urtubia and is an Ikiru Films, La Pulga y el Elefante, and La Terraza Films production.
The cast of the film includes Juan José Ballesta, Liah O’Prey, Luis Callejo, Miki Esparbé, Alex Blazy, Ben Temple, Fred Tatien, Ana Polvorosa, Josean Bengoetxea, Juan Olivares and Mónica Lamberti. It has a runtime of about 1 hour and 51 minutes and is filmed at locations in Vigo (Galicia), Catalonia, and France.
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A Man of Action Review
Loosely inspired by the life of Lucio Urtubia, the film explores the figure of the Spanish anarchist who pulled off a legendary counterfeiting operation in Paris that landed him in the crosshairs of America’s biggest bank, when he managed to obtain a huge amount of money by forging traveller’s cheques.
A Man of Action is a fast-paced film spanning five decades, from the 1940s to the 1980s, in which we follow in Lucio’s footsteps, from his humble beginnings as a bricklayer-turned-bank robber to taking the lead in bringing down one of the world’s biggest banks.
Although it may be based on a real-life personality, the film states right at the beginning that some events have been changed or altered for dramatic effect. Thus, shouldn’t be taken as the exact truth. Also, we get to know the basic philosophy of Lucio, which says, “robbing a bank is a crime, but founding one is even more so.”
The reason for his hatred towards the banks is revealed soon enough when he is just a teenager, who needs money for his father’s illness. But the bank denies him, leading to his father’s death and a subconscious hatred towards all the banks. It only gets to the surface when he arrives in Paris as an adult and meets the anarchists.
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But the biggest influence on him would be of Quico Sabate, the most famous and one of the most tenacious fighters in the armed resistance to the Francoist post-Civil War period. He is shown as the father/elder figure which shows Lucio the ways to take from the rich and give it to the poor, but his methods are quite dangerous.
Another main character is Inspector Castello, who often brings in the needed humour in the film. The scene where he, with his team, is on the lookout for Lucio to make any move. But all they see is him falling in love with Anne, which brings out quite a chuckle as they iterate to each other that Lucio has fallen in love, which sounds like they are glad and happy to know.
At times Urtubia’s character seems reckless, without any care in the world. But by the end of the film, we realise that he has a quick mind and certainly knows how to save one’s life, when at the edge of falling to your death. However, I wish his character was shown as a wise planner who wouldn’t confess his crime to the police straight away, without giving a benefit of the doubt.
Summing Up
The film stands true to its title ‘Un hombre de acción‘, the character truly takes charge of the action for anything that he thinks of. The initial scene of him playing a game of run & chase seems like a resolution that would come at the end. But it appears as a good twist when the story is building up and paves the course for Urtubia, for his future actions.
However, with the story we have in our hands, the script and production could have been much bigger than it is presented. There are big moments which hold so much impact, but the lack of dialogue and inconsistent direction leaves them without much depth and the end result falls flat.
A Man of Action is currently streaming on Netflix.
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