12 abril 2022 (23.03.22)
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‘800 meters’: the shocking Netflix docuseries about the attacks on Las Ramblas and Cambrils
After the ‘true-crime’ care ‘The Asunta case: Operation Nenúfar’ and ‘The Alcàsser case’, the director Elijah Leon Siminiani and the producer Ramon Campos they enter with the docuseries ‘800 meters’ (Netflix, Friday, the 25th) in a story of even more complex interweaving: the attacks of August 17 in Barcelona (800 meters from Las Ramblas traveled by the van driven by Younes Abouyaaqoub) and Cambrils, including their preparations (or their improvisation) and the long-term consequences on the relatives of the victims; the survivors, who are also victims, or the social fabric of the country.
As Siminiani explains in an interview with this newspaper, it was time to make “a panoramic and detailed account” because there was “enough distance”. If it has not been done before, it may also be, in his opinion, because “the events were overshadowed by the political events that happened right after and by covid-19.”
In the complicated feat (nearly 200 hours of recording, 80 interviews conducted, 150 hours of viewing the trial) they have counted on the investigative journalists Nacho Carter (‘Fariña’, ‘On Death Row’), Jesus Garcia Bueno (from ‘El País’ in Barcelona) and Anna Teixidor (TV-3), whose book ‘The Silences of 17-A’ was essential when putting together the script: “It facilitated the type of approach we wanted to seek”, says Siminiani. “Approaching the radicalization process and trying to answer a question that we all ask ourselves: how does something like this happen? How do some kids supposedly integrated into society, in this case second generation immigrants, with work, Catalan speakers, decide to die killing?”.
Material never seen or heard
The first of the three episodes is the most focused on that process and on the formation of the Ripol cell. The “most shocking” unpublished material, such as the terrorists’ communications hours before the attacks, is concentrated here, explains Anna Teixidor. “Mohamed Hychami had downloaded an application to record calls and the audio had been recorded. This was not even heard at the trial. The images in which Younes Abouyaaqoub, driver of the van, recites a nasheed were not seen there either. [tipo de recitación vocal musulmana] two months before the attacks. A nasheed about martyrdom. That image makes it clear to us that Younes no longer wanted human life, but only the afterlife.”
In the second episode, 17-A itself is remembered through the testimonies of relatives of the victims, survivors (such as Paul Abecasis, the Argentine kiosk run over who was left for dead) or members of the police forces. The series team avoids the lure of luridness while staying true to reality. “When we thought of a potential spectator, we thought above all of the survivors,” explains Siminiani. “Starting from that idea, There was always the dilemma of what kind of images to use to illustrate the horror or panic that they themselves speak of in their testimonies. There has to be a balance between empathy, being sensitive to them, and informative relevance, or treating the viewer like an adult. For this we work side by side with the UAVAT (Unidad de Atención y Valoración a Afectados por tTerrorismo) who has acted as a mediator and has been very helpful in addressing this issue”.
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The mayor also participates with her testimonies Ada Colau; the former head of the Mossos, Josep Lluis Trapero; experts in international relations and terrorism, or people who one day were part of the close environment of the terrorists in Ripoll. Some local residents opened the door to the team, but finally decided not to stand in front of the camera. “It’s one thing to welcome you and another is to talk -explains Teixidor-, with all that that entails. These families continue to live in Ripoll, where there is still a very marked mourning. All this is taboo. People want to turn the page and not remember” .
In the third episode, in addition to recounting the search for Abouyaaqoub and the attack in Cambrils, it is remembered how many victims were also victims of an administration that did not recognize their rights. “You feel like a victim twice,” explains Miguel López in the series. “One for having been in the place where an attack was committed and another by an administration that, if this attention unit does not appear [UAVAT], they don’t start to move.” (Elías): “For me, one of the best things that the documentary could bring is a greater awareness of the experience of the survivors. And also about what radicalization processes mean. Move the terrorist away from the topic of the savage, insane, crazy person, and accept that there is something much more complex behind it that requires attention if we do not want this to happen again(Anna): “The series is a wake-up call. After all, the terrorist threat has not decreased: we are at a four out of five”.
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