Jaguar Netflix Review: A Ruthless Hunt For The Nazis Begins In The Madrid Of The Sixties | Jaguar Saison 1

Creators: Ramón Campos, Gema R. Neira, David Orea, Salvador S. Molina, Moises Gómez
Stars: Blanca Suárez, Iván Marcos, Francesc Garrido, Adrián Lastra, Óscar Casas

Platform: Netflix

Ratings: 3/5 (three stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Actress from Madrid, Blanca Suárez, takes off the role of the sensual Lidia, a role she held for five seasons in the vintage series The Girls at the Switchboard, to dress those of a determined Nazi hunter in Jaguar, a miniseries produced by Bambú Productions and streaming on Netflix from 22 September. Set in Madrid in the 1960s, a safe haven for hundreds of Nazis after the Second World War, the miniseries stars Isabel Garrido (Suárez), a young woman who survived the Mauthausen camp in search of revenge for her father and brother, who remained victim of extermination. The miniseries, conceived by Ramón Campos and Gema R. Neira, authors of the aforementioned The girls from the switchboard, has the clear objective of remembering what happened to thousands of Spaniards in the Nazi extermination camps and how those responsible for all this were able to travel around Spain in total freedom, until not too many years ago. As we will see in our Jaguar Netflix review However, the project does not only want to tell the story, but also to entertain the viewer with a series of chases, escapes and shootings, among which the difficult moral choices that the protagonist will have to make during the six episodes will make their way.

Jaguar Netflix Review: The Story

Isabel Garrido (Blanca Suárez) is a young woman who survived the Mauthausen concentration camp who works in a luxury restaurant frequented mainly by a German clientele. The patrons of the restaurant, however, are not just any customers: to dine happily recalling the period of the Third Reich with nostalgia, there are several former Nazi officers who have found refuge, after the Second World War, in Francoist Spain and now live as free men. in the Madrid of the sixties. Among them sits Otto Bachmann, responsible for the death of Isabel’s father and, for this reason, the designated target of the woman, determined to make herself justice for the horror experienced during the Holocaust. His plans for revenge, however, will not go as planned: Isabel, in fact, will soon discover that she is not the unique on the trail of these war criminals. A well-organized group of extermination survivors follow in the shadows the movements of the Nazis passing through Spain, with the aim of capturing them and making them serve their crimes before justice, as in a second Nuremberg trial. Initially reluctant, the woman decides to join the company, acquiring the code name of Jaguar.

Jaguar bravely tackles one of the most painful and burning issues in twentieth-century Spanish history: after the Second World War, more than 40,000 Nazi criminals were able to settle in Spain with total impunity, without even having to change their surname. This is because, as we have been told since the first episode of the series, a well-organized network called Odessa has allowed the great Nazi hierarchs to flee to Spain and Italy with the support of the Vatican, allowing them to build a second life. . Despite being a fiction, in fact, the series created by Ramón Campos and Gema R. Neirahas the clear objective of inserting itself in an absolutely real historical context, and it does so by enriching the narration of characters who really existed. Thus, during the German banquets at the luxury restaurant, we hear about Adolf Eichmann, one of the main architects of the Final Solution captured in Buenos Aires by the Israeli secret services of the Mossad and sentenced to death in Israel. Or Aribert Heim, a ruthless Austrian doctor who is a member of the SS and the main target of the organized group of which our protagonist joins. While he recounts historical events and offers an effective portrait of these Nazis who still harbor strong feelings for the Third Reich, it is clear that Jaguar’s main intent is to remember and commemorate the fate of thousands of Spaniards in Nazi extermination camps. It does,

Review and Analysis

Jaguar, however, is not just a historical drama; in its six episodes a lot of space is given to chases, escapes and shootings, revealing, from the first episode, the thriller soul of the series. The fact of being a “hybrid” is not in itself a problem, on the contrary, its being a compelling show full of twists represents, after all, the way in which it manages to capture the attention of the viewer. Unfortunately, however, sometimes one gets the impression that, in some passages, the writers have let themselves be carried away a little. Fast & Furious chases, Ocean’s Eleven missions and evolutions of the protagonist worthy of the best stuntmen, make the narrative lose a bit of truthfulness. Especially in the first episode, in fact, the excess of action risks overshadowing what are the real intentions of the series, making the plot smoky and threatening to discourage a good slice of the public. But, if you manage to go beyond the first 42 minutes, Jaguar reveals itself for what it is: not just a thriller to the death and a historical drama but also a story of friendship, about the importance of finding who shares your same. past and shares the same inner demons.

Jaguar Netflix Review: The Final Verdict

As we have seen in our review of Jaguar, the miniseries conceived by Ramón Campos and Gema R. Neira represents a perfect example of historical drama, with particular attention to the reality of the facts and the continuous reference to real characters. Although the goal of the show starring Blanca Suàrez is to tell a painful episode in Spanish history, Jaguar immediately reveals its thriller soul as well. Too bad that, in some passages, it seems that the writers have got a little carried away with chases and shootings; the excess of action, especially in the first episode, risks losing the sense of the series and making the plot a bit smoky.

What Worked

• Well inserted in the historical context it tells, with continuous references to events and characters that really existed.
• Full of twists.

What Didn’t Worked

• Slightly excessive moments of action.