EL PRACTICANTE/ THE PARAMEDIC
Spain, 2020, 96 minutes, Colour.
Mario Casas, Deborah François, Guillermo Pfening, Celso Bugallo.
Directed by Carles Torras.
Mario Casas is one of Spain’s most prolific young actors (as witnessed by so many of his films streamed by Netflix). He can be both hero and villain – but has made strong villains in many of his films.
As regards plot, this is a fairly straightforward thriller, Casas as Angel, a paramedic with a touch of the obsessive (keeping souvenirs of all those he encountered in his work). He is in partnership with a young woman who is studying. They are trying for her to become pregnant – but it seems the limitations are with him.
Wherever this plot thread might have led, situations are drastically changed when a truck crashes into the ambulance, Angel’s friend, Ricardo, not being injured, Angel becoming a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair. Whatever his previous obsessiveness, this is enhanced by his injuries, becoming more suspicious of his girlfriend (Deborah François, French actress of the Dad then Brothers L’Enfant? and star of The Page Turner). He even installs surveillance camera technology in her phone.
As, might be expected, and discovering this, she walks out – and actually begins a relationship with the driver, Ricardo, – and becomes pregnant.
The main development, of course, is Angels way of trapping his girlfriend and confining her to the apartment – and the dire consequences for her, for Ricardo, and, surprisingly, for the old man upstairs whose dog has barked continuously early in the film (and, indicative of Angels attitudes, his putting needles in meat which he feeds the dog).
The film builds to a climax, a confrontation between Angel and his girlfriend – and something of a surprise at the end, the girlfriend and her ultimate vengeance on Angel.
Effectively done in its way, but something of a conventional psychological thriller.
1. A Spanish thriller? An obsessed man? His physical injuries and the influence? His holding his hostage in his apartment? The preoccupation with pregnancy and the birth of a child?
2. The Spanish city, the focus on the accidents on the road, deaths in homes, the work of the paramedics, hospitals? The transition to the claustrophobic atmosphere of the apartment, the various rooms? The physiotherapy? The musical score?
3. The title, Angel and his work, with Ricardo’s partner, their discussions, the scene of the initial accident and the horrific deaths, going to the apartment for the old lady, Angel and his taking sunglasses and souvenirs and keeping them is home? The touch of the obsessive?
4. Ricardo and Angel in the ambulance, the crash, Ricardo not injured, Angel as paraplegic? The psychological effect?
5. At home, his relationship with Vein, the sexual relationship, wanting a child, his going to the test, the limits for his sperm? Vein, her studies, going out to work, preparing the meals? Angel and beginnings of suspicion, fellow students, phone calls? His buying the surveillance equipment, installing it on her phone? Her discovery, his computer and her images? Her packing and leaving?
6. The effect on Angel, by himself, brooding? Ricardo’s visit and his hostility to Ricardo? The discovery that Vein was with Ricardo, that she was pregnant?
7. Angel tracking her down, the discussions, her moment of compassion, going to the apartment, the needle and the injection, confined to the bed, tied up? The effect on her, terror? The continued needles? Angel and his talk? Her attempts to get free, her shouting?
8. The old man upstairs, the dog and continual barking, his explanation going to the hospital to see his wife, leaving the dog? Angel and his putting needles and the meat killing the dog? The old man hearing the shouts? The threat to go to the police, Angel stabbing him, getting his friend to transport the body away? (The friend, Angel selling him the jewellery and his shady background?)
9. Vein, time passing, Ricardo and his search, Angel killing him?
10. The police, the visits, suspicions, Ricardo’s death, the older man’s disappearance?
11. Vein, seeming to succumb, the meals and the oysters, Angel and his smooth talk? Are getting him to go out to get the tablets? Are getting free, his return? The prolonged struggle, her legs and paralysis, standing? The fight on the landing, Angel and his falling over the ledge, his injuries?
12. Angel not dead, incapacitated, quadriplegic, unable to communicate, the pregnant vein and her promising to look after him? Her vengeance?
