Spanish thriller The Minions of Midas begins with protests happening all over the state and a girl who seems to be a part of an organisation. With a very brief opening, we are taken back in time from where the actual story begins.
The story is based on a millionaire, Victor Genoves, who faces extortion from a mysterious organization. He gets a blackmailing note from a reporter who claims that he can break a story that could implicate him.
Earlier there were some rumours that the story was based on a real-life event, but that is not true. It is, however, related to the story of the same name by Jack London in 1901. He was an American journalist, novelist and a social activist who died in 1916 and contributed a number of short stories and movies to the art community. The story was inspired a lot from the political cinema at that time.
The story is based on a person’s relationship with money and greed. It portrays capitalism as a monster that is eating us all alive and needs to be treated. After the fall of communism, people have never discussed a person’s need for acquiring property. People with wealth keep committing crimes and no one keeps a track of it. Wealth has taken the place of basic humanness in our lives.
In this mini-series, Victor is asked for a huge amount of money and every time he refuses to agree to the terms presented by The Minions Of Midas, a random person dies in the streets of Madrid. Victor is a very wealthy man, as mentioned before, and every time someone dies the pressure keeps building on his mind and soul. But the truth is that we have gone so deep inside the labyrinth of capitalism that our money is more dear to us than human life.
The series not only proves that but also the making of the series proves the power of money in our life. This limited series was originally a movie that was written in 2001 by Miguel Barros and Mateo Gil. It went into the development phase but was later dropped due to its length. Later, when they decided to make it again after years, it got dropped due to the financial crisis of 2008 -the financial crisis that ruined thousands of lives and affected families all over the world.
People had a different understanding of wealth in their lives but after 2008, the perception of money changed drastically. The relationship with wealth changed for a lot of people. Rich are becoming richer and poor are getting poorer each day. Hence, The Minions Of Midas gives you a lot to think about and analyze your choices in life.
The series presents a lot of moral dilemmas about how our wealth dictates our life. Also, it presents the fact of how the ones who are closest and dearest to us can sometimes turn out to be the monster that we never expected. What would you do in that situation is the biggest question. Will you kill them or join them in their vendetta?
If you want to see something that has good content along with food for thought then you should definitely give this Spanish series a place in your life. Give your choices in life a second thought and make your life full of memories than running emotionless behind the money.
The Minions Of Midas is currently streaming on Netflix.
Read our other reviews here.
The story does pit wealth against human life. But that’s really a obtuse senerio as it is not reality, it’s a political position where there are multiple other realities. Such as the benefits that the use of wealth provides to society. Because If all wealth were divided among all people, we would all be dirt poor, hungry and unemployed.