Alatriste

The story takes place during the 17th century in the Spanish Empire. Diego Alatriste is a soldier in the service of King Philip IV of Spain, during the Eighty Years' War. The story begins in the Netherlands, where the tercio of Diego Alatriste fights against the Dutch during the Dutch Revolt. Lope Balboa (father of Íñigo and friend of the captain) is killed here. Diego decides to return to Madrid where he receives the young Íñigo Balboa in his care.

He is hired, along with a Sicilian assassin named Gualtiero Malatesta, to kill the Prince of Wales (future King Charles I of England) and his companion, the Duke of Buckingham. The job is contracted by Emilio Bocanegra and Luis de Alquézar (uncle of Íñigo's love interest, Angélica de Alquézar). Alatriste finally returns to the Netherlands in 1624 (although the movie says it's 1625) and participates in the final battles leading to Breda's surrender. After the return to Spain, Íñigo wants to elope with Angélica, but she gets cold feet at the last moment. Alatriste has a romance with actress María de Castro. Because she was disappointed that she failed to marry him, she became the lover of Philip IV. Alatriste ends up crossing swords with Guadalmedina, a friend of the king. In the end, the object of their attention falls ill with syphilis. The duel with his friend Martín Saldaña and the punishment of Íñigo in the galleys are part of the film's spectacular ending.

The last scenes are at the Battle of Rocroi (May 1643), described in the last book of The Adventures of Captain Alatriste saga. During the battle, Abel Moreno Gómez's "La Madrugá" is playing as the defeated army's march and this is where it is assumed that the old Captain Diego Alatriste dies.

The plot of the film has elements from each of the five books published up to the premiere, and it maintains the same storyline for the main characters. It includes excerpts from the future books of the saga.

• Viggo Mortensen as Captain Diego Alatriste
• Javier Cámara as Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares
• Eduardo Noriega as the Count of Guadalmedina
• Juan Echanove as the poet Francisco de Quevedo
• Unax Ugalde as Íñigo de Balboa, Alatriste's Basque squire
• Elena Anaya as Angélica de Alquézar, a teenaged femme fatale
• Ariadna Gil as María de Castro
• Francesc Garrido as Sheriff Saldaña
• Blanca Portillo as the inquisitor fray Emilio Bocanegra
• Antonio Dechent as Curro Garrote
• Paco Tous as Francisco de Melo
• Enrico Lo Verso as Gualtiero Malatesta

Antonio Resines, originally slated to appear as Saldaña, almost retired from the entire movie due to a traffic accident; however, he makes a cameo appearance in the Battle of Rocroi as a musketeer officer.

The film was released on 1 September 2006.

Alatriste filming in La Caleta beach, Cádiz, Spain

At the 21st Goya Awards the film was awarded and nominated for the following categories:

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alatriste.

• Alatriste on IMDb
• Alatriste at AllMovie
• Official Arturo Pérez-Reverte's website (in Spanish)