New Amazon Prime Video series “Los Farad,” released Dec. 12, takes a look at the Cold War from one of its strangest geo-political hubs, 1980s Málaga. The action-packed show follows a family that is normal in many ways, despite earning a luxurious living as arms traffickers.
Part of a determinedly diverse and burgeoning lineup at Spain’s Prime Video, “Los Farad” is a high-profile prestige package starring Miguel Herrán – who plays Rio in “Money Heist” and Cristián in “Elite” – and the on-the-rise Susana Abaitúa, who delivered a tearaway performance in Netflix rom-com “Crazy about Her.”
Co-created by Alejandro Aménabar co-scribe Alejandro Hernández (“While at War,” “La Fortuna”), “Los Farad” is directed by Mariano Barroso (“Extasis,” “The Wolves of Washington”) in his fifth collaboration with Hernández.
Emerging as one of Spain’s most notable drama series directors in an age of premium fiction, Barroso has extracted terrific, nuanced performances in series set in Spain’s recent past, such as “The Invisible Line” and “What the Future Holds.” “Los Farad” continues this tradition of telling tales of ethical compromise with compassion, in which characters often lose their moral compass and sense of original self.
In the series, Herrán plays Oskar, brought up in an orphanagewhose only living relation is uncle Miguel (Fernando Tejero), who lives in a humble working class district of Madrid and becomes the voice of Oskar’s conscience. An aerobics dance instructor, Oskar dreams of opening his own gym. A chance meeting with Sara, daughter of the urbane Leo Farad (Pedro Casablanc), a member of Marbella’s eye-poppingly rich, offers not only that possibility but an answer to Oskar’s deepest goal: a real family.
This family, however, are arms traffickers, tipping the balance in a Cold War ranging from Angola to Yemen, Iraq, Algeria and even Monaco.
Also starring Israeli-Iraqi actor Igal Naor (“Homeland,” “Fauda”) as Mawad, the Farads’ deadly rival, Prime Video’s latest series from Spain is produced by Mod Producciones, headed by Fernando Bovaira, whose producer credits include Alejandro Amenábar’s “The Others” and Oscar winner “The Sea Inside,” as well as Anxo Rodríguez at ESpotlight, which holds down an alliance with Legendary Television.
Below, read PvNew‘s discussion with Barroso and Hernández in the build-up to “Los Farad’s” release.
Los Farad” draws a through-line back to “The Invisible Line” (2020) and “What the Future Holds” (2018) and even, Mariano, back to one of your earliest films, “Extasis” (1996), in that it explains how somebody ended up as the person they became in adult life, however morally reprehensible they become…
Mariano Barroso: Oskar is swept away by a necessity, the need to belong. He’s looking for a family. He finds one which gives him not only a place in the world and solves all his problems, or so he thinks. What he ignores, in his innocence, is that this has a price. He gives up pieces of his soul until there’s no going back. I’m not trying to deliver any moral lesson. “Extasis” turns on the same theme. I was more innocent and thought people could return to their origins. And I guess I’m attracted to characters who, however adorable, are morally or ethically questionable. It’s ground we all move on. It would be ingenuous to picture Oskar giving up everything.
Alejandro Hernández: He says it at the beginning in voiceover, something like, looking back, if he hadn’t done what he did he could have avoided everything that came after. But he’s talking from a future time when he’s accepted his fate. So what’s the point of going over his past when he’s changed? He can only look forward.
How did you come up with the set up, the arms trafficking family?
Barroso:On one hand, arms trafficking had hardly featured in Spanish fiction, especially with the element of its being totally legal. Then there was the world of Marbella, and I’ve always wanted to make a family saga.
Hernández:When we explored arms trafficking, we saw that it was the perfect scenario to frame our family, which we wanted to be a perfectly legal family which instead of going to an office every day dedicated itself to trade weapons.
The series addresses the Cold War which is often still seen in black-and-white. “Los Farad” explores its gray areas, both political and in terms of the family.
Barroso:The family itself opens up gray areas. In the final analysis, it talks about a family, and gray zones in an family. It’s not all love and hate. That’s perhaps what’s interesting. We didn’t try to justify its actions, but explain that behind what we were told there was another background. There’s a moral and human dimension.
Hernández: The Cold War is a metaphor for family conflict. As Friedrich Engels put it, everything begins with family origins. You have allies, enemies, problems, in-laws, nephews and nieces. All families have problems. Wars are an extrapolation of problems at an individual level. It’s very difficult to battle geo-political problems, but in the end they come from the same: Disagreements, misunderstandings, ambition, power struggles. The setting was perfect because, as you say, I remember the Cold War as the struggle between two very, very defined powers.
What would you say the series is really about?
Barroso: The logline says it clearly: Family’s the most dangerous weapon. Oskar embarks on an adventure because he wants to belong, then mistakes belonging with wealth and power, which sweeps him away.
Hernández:I fought in Angola’s Civil War, starting in November 1988, returning in 1990 just as the Berlin Wall fell. I was 18, 19. These things mark you. I had always dreamt of saying something about one of these Cold War conflicts.
What are your ambitions with the series, and main aims during production?
Barroso:To tell a story — not an espionage thriller nor a horror tale, nor anything very dark — but rather a luminous tale set in a kind of dream world. Everything dazzles him, the party, Marbella. We tried to translate this sense he has to considerations like colors, art direction concepts, wardrobe.
Hernández:A series of events where you’re guided by ambition, but this strips you of what you are. You give up on this, out of comfort, taste, the pleasure of power. And suddenly you’re someone. You can just move from one country to another, you can just leave the country any time or strike a rockets deal.
The series takes place during multiple important historical events. How did you aim to relate them to the story of “Los Farad”?
Barroso:For me, it was essential to tell a story, something like a fairytale, because that’s how Oskar feels it. He enters a fascinating world, which feels like a fairytale, and he gets to live it fully. Everything dazzles, he discovers things he didn’t even know existed: The houses, the port venues, the yachts… It was important to go in that direction. We did not aim to make a social statement but rather to tell a fairytale. We wanted a lot of light. Drama impacts far more in the full light of day. At night, you expect something dark to happen.
Hernández:For me, there’s a polarization, which always had a sense of theater. I remember Mariano telling me one day he’d seen two politicians in Congress laying into each other brutally. Then, Mariano had gone to a cafe near Congress and seen the two having a drink together and laughing. There’s a sense of theater which the public lives off and needs to a certain extent, to have referents. But behind the facade, everything’s grayer and much more complex.
John Hopewell contributed to this article.
