Moving thriller plenty of emotion , suspense , intrigue , twists , and stirring finale when the protagonists are pursued by the law enforcement . The picture deals with the true story of 1976 breakout from an allegedly impregnable prison , in which 30 inmates get escaped from Segovia by truck until Pyrinees but when it happens a mistake they lost themselves throughout the forests chased by Guardia Civil . The movie takes place into four walls of a jail , sewers and yard , involving the preparations of the escape . The picture tells about the authentic experiences of convicts of a prison , reflecting the hardship existence of the inmates . Full of prison clichés , in which life monotony is the norm , being extremely controlled by wardens (José Antonio Ceínos , Santiago Ramos) and based in routine without a great deal actually happening . Narrated by a long flashback , it starts in San Juán De Luz (1977) when an escaped convict (Xavier Elorriaga) tells his getaway to a reporter (Arantxa Vizcaya) and following the ordinary conventionalism of the Prison/escape genre . The gang of terrorist inmates confront risks and sufferings for reaching their freedom . Some of them escape and others are subsequently amnestied by ¨The Amnesty Law¨. After 50 years of activity and almost 1000 killings , in October 20 , 2001 ETA announced a definitive truce , but has not delivered the weapons .
Thrilling movie contains drama , suspense , thrills , action , adventure and being pretty entertaining but overlong . Here filmmaker Uribe directs a passable fiction/documentary film , combining professional actors along with Eta members . The dangerous escape down the prison wall and undergrounds was performed without stunt doubles . Despite being somewhat of a cinematic cliché , rarely has a feature been so aptly deserving of its description as a thriller picture along with some elements from politics and prison lives . Imanol Uribe , also writes the script along with Angel Amigo who was one of the escaped inmates , based on his novel , filmed in his usual style , without leaving a trace the political issues , in terms of dramatic and narrative excitement . Hard-edge thriller/drama centers around terrorist conflicts and a peculiar breakout . However , the film relies heavily on excessive talking , a certain apology or defense of the terrorist cause and being spoiled by tiring dialogue in Euskera and Castilian language . ¨La Fuga De Segovia¨ belongs to Imanol Uribe's uneven trilogy that deals with problems in Basque Country , being formed by ¨El Proceso De Burgos¨ (1979) about a trial against Eta members by killing a cop and ¨Muerte De Mikel¨ (1983) concerns a young homosexual and member of an Aberzale party , and this one ¨Escape from Segovia¨ (1981) based on a book titled ¨Operación Poncho¨ by Angel Amigo (also producer) and who participated in the getaway . The cast is pretty good , formed by , nowadays , known actors , such as : Mario Pardo , Virginia Mataix , Chema Muñoz , José Antonio Ceinos , Santiago Ramos , recently deceased Álex Angulo , Patxi Bisquert , Guillermo Montesinos , Fernando Vivanco and Ramón Barea who subsequently played various Basque films , especially ¨El Negociador¨ . Boring and inappropriate musical score by Lasa and Amaya , with a lot of Basque songs that undermine the action , some of them sung by Ovidi Montllor . Atmospheric cinematography by the prestigious Javier Aguirresarobe . Being shot on location in Segovia , Madrid , Basque Country , though the Prison interiors were shot at a school of Tolosa town.
This Angel Amigo production was professionally written by Imanol Uribe who also directed , though has some flaws and resulted in getting a limited success at Spanish Box office . It won the Critical Award in San Sebastian Festival . Uribe who lived and had a son with actress María Barranco , gained fame early in his career for his controversial socio-political portraits of the Basque people , such as ¨Fuga Segovia¨, ¨Muerte Mikel¨ and he turned to thriller as ¨Adios Pequeña¨, ¨Plenilunio¨ , ¨Carta Esferica¨ , ¨Dias Contados¨ or ¨Running out of time¨ and drama as ¨Bwana¨ , ¨Rey Pasmado¨ and ¨Extraños¨ . This motion picture ¨Escape from Segovia¨ will appeal to Prison films enthusiasts , along with the classical ¨Le Trou¨ by Jacques Becker , ¨Escape from Alcatraz¨ (1979) by Don Siegel and ¨Cell 211¨ , the latter one of the best film of Jail sub-genre .
