One of the things that can be seen with the naked eye with this miniseries is that Hugo Blick (‘Black Earth Rising’, ‘The Honorable Woman’) you can tell he’s passionate about westerns. Y ‘The English‘ —rare case of co-production between BBC and Prime Video that ultimately ends up on HBO Max in Spain— there is a desire to do something new and exciting drinking directly from the classics.
Something that is accentuated on the one hand by the fact that, like so many works of the genre, this series has found in Spain a splendid set —with a mostly Spanish production force (practically except for the director and the cast)—; but also for a precise approach to the aesthetics and cinematographic language typical of “cinema of the west” (and not only Leone’s spaghetti).
Thus, the photography of Arnau Valls in the series is lavished on figures set against a blue sky and other planes that evoke the aesthetics of the genre in order for us to get into what is otherwise a rather sordid and tough series. It lasts while being quite elegant when it comes to capturing its most violent and unpleasant moments.
Modern soul in the body of a classic western
In body, ‘The English’ is also quite classic: It’s a story of revenge (and romance) starring CorneliaEmily Blunt), wealthy Englishwoman grieving the loss of her son. In the search for the culprit of her misfortune, she will run into Sergeant Whipp (Chaske Spencer), an Indian recently retired from the cavalry who seeks to reclaim the land owed to him.
This west that Blick portrays (or, more generally, America) is treated as an almost cursed country, in which those who see there the promised land, or opportunity, end up either corrupted by greed and violence or destroyed. People are even aware of this and they know that their hopes are gone as soon as they leave their house.
Cast is reflected from the initial sequence, which perfectly sets the tone for what we are going to see over the next six hours. Despite a certain hardness and sordidness, sensationalism is not sought, but the script goes, little by little and with a certain amount of patience, placing the different pieces of the story.
It must be recognized that ‘The English’ sometimes asks for a little more patience than it should, but I think it’s nothing we don’t have in advance knowing Hugo Blick’s style. Perhaps where the screenwriter is most out of tune is in the dialogues that often fall into common grounds.
Fortunately, at times where we can say that the series is weak, a monumental cast is always there carrying history on their shoulders. I’m not just talking about the leading duo made up of Blunt and Spencer (especially with the former), but the supporting cast (with Rafe Spall and Stephen Rhea among others) is quite remarkable.
In general terms, and despite the fact that there are moments of ups and downs in the plot, ‘The English’ It is a more than remarkable western. a good show from the west that is visually impeccable and that is easily placed among the best releases of this 2022.