Picture: Netflix
One of the blockbuster series from the Latin America lineup for the platform, this adaptation of the classic graphic novel by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López finally hits the screens today, with six episodes. With this project, do we have the next must-see Spanish-speaking series of this spring?
The Latin American hub of Netflix has its share of blockbuster projects, but they may be a little harder to keep track of for a couple of reasons.
First, they are shrouded in secrecy and short on details until they are ready, but they also undergo a long and arduous production process. Over the last few months, they have delivered the first season of 100 Years of Solitude and its fully reconstituted village straight from the dreams of author Gabriel García Márquez, and Senna, an epic biopic of the late driver that boasted its dynamic recreations of classic Formula 1 races of the late 1980s.
The Eternaut plays vividly into this blockbuster, ambitious arena: for one, it’s an adaptation of a graphic novel that is one of the most celebrated of all time in Argentina, and its central premise is turning Buenos Aires into a cold, unrecognizable, quiet city filled with toxic snow and bodies. Add in award-winning actor and recognizable face Ricardo Darín as Juan Salvo, and you have the makings of a very ambitious adaptation.
As the three episodes provided for review attest, The Eternaut is a contemporary reimagining of the tale, where a sudden power outage leads to violent protests on a summer day. Then, overnight, a toxic, deadly snow starts falling, leaving millions dead and thousands stranded at home. As we follow Juan Salvo and his associates, a sense of immediacy and dread has no trouble setting in. Perhaps that’s the defining quality of the series, compared to other projects: it all feels like an unfolding apocalypse and situation, thrusting ordinary citizens into a careful quest to save their lives.
Even if Juan Salvo does have an arc and intends to save his daughter, it is not promised that he will get closure by the end of the series. Instead, The Eternaut opts to eschew long stretches of dialogue from its source material to create a very atmospheric and more dynamic mood. There are no heroic acts, nor many “action set pieces” you come to expect. Instead, a central mystery and uneasy solidarity between its characters are the threads that glue the show together, alongside Salvo’s ironclad determination to push back against the barely visible enemy he is up against. There is a refreshing quality in lowering the stakes and only hinting at the mass destruction that happened to an unrecognizable Buenos Aires overnight. You can feel the shock of life leaving innocent victims as vividly as you did in the book of Oestherheld and López.
But its biggest quality may also hinder The Eternaut from being a global hit. It echoes an ever-expanding list of post-apocalyptic movies and shows, some featuring zombies, some other aliens, and Netflix subscribers or global genre fans will no doubt be familiar with the ways threats are presented in the show, and even the occasional ramping up of the tension. The references, conscious or subconscious, by co-writer and director Bruno Stagnaro and writer Ariel Staltari include the late Revolution (created by Eric Kripke for NBC), The Walking Dead, Children Of Men, Snowpiercer, and yes, even HBO’s The Last Of Us and Max’s Station Eleven. All shows that boast more immediate gratifications than The Eternaut, which sees itself more as a slow-burner. Intriguing, heartbreaking at times, and impressively made overall, this is still a strong dramatic outing for the Argentinian line-up of the platform. Whether it will have legs in a busy spring season and attract new subscribers remains up in the air.
El Eternauta. (L to R) Ariel Staltari, Oriana Cárdenas in El Eternauta. Cr. Marcos Ludevid / Netflix ©2024
Watch The Eternaut if you like
- Snowpiercer
- The Walking Dead
- The Rain
- The Last Of Us
MVP of The Eternaut
Ricardo Darín as Juan Salvo>
The piercing blue eyes of Darín match the Eternaut’s lost stare from the comics. As he has to contend with adversity among the peers he is stranded with and a struggle to get a handle of an impossible reality, the actor proves he is a strong leading man to carry multiple seasons of the project, should there ever be more.
Ricardo Darín as Juan Salvo. Credit : Mariano Landet/Netflix.
Verdict on Netflix’s The Eternaut
A visually dazzling rendition of a snowed-in Buenos Aires and a strong flair for drama, The Eternaut runs high on emotions. But it may be set back by the audience fatigue and well-trodden themes of post-apocalyptic movies and shows.
The Eternaut is now streaming on Netflix globally.
