Movistar premiered a series about the repressive state police. It's called Riot police And it's quite good; Rodrigo Sorogoyen is a very good director and screenwriter; with this series, he did an excellent job. He portrayed a whole group of individuals who work for the Spanish state security forces and who, when necessary, must put down their batons and attend to whomever the command tells them to. These men weren't extraordinary: they were fallible, weak, sometimes exhibiting all the tendencies of that 'toxic masculinity' that the director had already portrayed in other works of fiction. But thanks to the cinematic vision, you connected with them, you ended up liking them, and you followed the hypothetical story of their corruptibility; ultimately, it validated Hannah Arendt's idea of the 'banality of evil,' which perhaps wasn't applicable to the Nazis, but certainly to 'democratic' security forces that simply enforce the law without asking too many questions, however much this might mean infuriating the public.
The series ended with the arrival of these characters at the port of Barcelona, having been sent—as members of Operation Catalonia—to live on that cartoonish ship, all to violently prevent the Catalan referendum of October 1st from taking place. A second season was announced, but unfortunately, it was never filmed. Perhaps because it would have been too controversial, or because Movistar didn't trust Sorogoyen's humanist perspective, which might have compromised with the official Spanish nationalist narrative that still insists the vote had to be stopped because it was illegal and all necessary force should be used.
But it seems there was a lot of archive footage of the actual police operation that overwhelmed that police force, also after the verdict in the 'Trial'. And they've produced a report that, from what they say, shamelessly praises that police force and its repression. Icarus It can be seen on Filmin, and although the reviews are not very positive, it has not been for aesthetic or journalistic reasons that thousands of users on social networks have turned against it, considering that the platform should not broadcast content so politically contrary to the sovereignist postulates.
That the Spanish police are not pro-independence and even sadistically enjoyed that "work" is nothing new. The existence of a report documenting this, even if it's presented as praise or propaganda, is nonetheless significant and revealing, and it fuels pro-independence ideas, providing further arguments for reluctance towards anything "Spanish" or unjustly repressive.
Those most affected have asked Filmin to remove the documentary from its catalog (which it will do on January 31), or have simply cancelled their subscriptions—which is their right—disappointed with a content provider that doesn't align (and never has) with their political views. Graffiti has appeared at Filmin's physical headquarters. Now we'll have to see if everything on Netflix, for example, is in accordance with our convictions.
