Money Heist
aka LaCasa de Papel
| Created by | Álex Pina |
|---|---|
| Music composer | Manel Santisteban |
| Opening theme | “My Life Is Going On” by Cecilia Krull |
Cast description from Wikipedia: edited to remove spoilers.
Úrsula Corberó as Silene Oliveira (Tokyo): a runaway robber until scouted by the Professor to participate in his plan; she also acts as a unreliable narrator.
- Álvaro Morte as Sergio Marquina (The Professor / Salvador “Salva” Martín): the mastermind of the heist who assembled the group, and Berlin’s brother.
- Itziar Ituño as Raquel Murillo (Lisbon): an inspector of the National Police Corps who is put in charge of the case.
- Pedro Alonso as Andrés de Fonollosa (Berlin): a jewel thief and the Professor’s second-in-command and brother.
- Alba Flores as Ágata Jiménez (Nairobi): an expert in forgery in charge of printing the money for the group.
- Miguel Herrán as Aníbal Cortés (Rio): a young hacker.
- Paco Tous as Agustín Ramos (Moscow): a former miner turned criminal and Denver’s father.
- Jaime Lorente as Daniel / Ricardo[c] Ramos (Denver): Moscow’s son who joins him in the heist.
- Esther Acebo as Mónica Gaztambide (Stockholm): one of the hostages who is Arturo Román’s secretary and mistress, carrying his child out of wedlock.
- Kiti Mánver as Mariví Fuentes: Raquel’s mother.
- Enrique Arce as Arturo Román: a hostage and the former Director of the Royal Mint of Spain.
- Darko Perić as Mirko Dragic (Helsinki): a veteran Serbian soldier and Oslo’s cousin.
- María Pedraza as Alison Parker : a hostage and daughter of the British ambassador to Spain.
- Hovik Keuchkerian as Bogotá: an expert in metallurgy who joins the robbery of the Bank of Spain.
- Rodrigo de la Serna as Martín Berrote (Palermo / The Engineer): an old Argentine friend of Berlin’s who planned the robbery of the Bank of Spain with him and assumed his place as commanding officer.
- Najwa Nimri as Alicia Sierra: a pregnant inspector of the National Police Corps put in charge of the case
- Luka Peroš as Marseille: a member of the gang who joins the robbery of the Bank of Spain.
- Belén Cuesta as Julia (Manila) (part 4; featured part 3): godchild of Moscow and Denver’s childhood friend. She is a trans woman who joins the gang and poses as one of the hostages during the robbery of the Bank of Spain.
- Fernando Cayo as Colonel Luis Tamayo (part 4; featured part 3): a member of the Spanish Intelligence who oversees Alicia’s work on the case.
- Fernando Soto as Ángel Rubio, Raquel’s deputy inspector.
Money Heist is one of those rags-to-riches type of stories where a seemingly failed show is given a last gasp chance in the streaming equivalent of the remaindered bin, and goes on to be a huge international hit.
Originally broadcast in Spain on Antena 3, the program started out well, but viewership dwindled through the first two seasons to about half its original audience, at which point it was canceled. That would be the end of it, but Netflix picked it up, rejuggled the storyline a bit, and put it up on their international library, not even bothering to promote it in any way. They probably figured if it attracted a couple of hundred heist story fans it would pay for itself, so they changed the name from LaCasa de Papel (House of Paper) to Money Heist (imagine how popular Game of Thrones might have been if HBO had renamed it “Tits and Dragons”!) and let it sink or swim.
And now it has 65 million viewers, making it Netflix’s biggest international hit. The Salvador Dali masks and the red jumpsuits are ubiquitous at anti-fascist rallies, as stylish amongst the “Fight the Man” crowd as the Guy Fawkes masks were in the early days of Occupy. (Unfortunately, they also feature in the occasional bank robbery, but given that the story revolves around a group of people looking to steal over a billion Euros, that’s not entirely surprising.) An old ballad sung in the fields of Italy 150 years ago and repurposed as an anti-fascist anthem during the war has, as a result of its role in the show, become an international hit on its own. More on that below.
The success of the show is not a fluke. The plot is satisfyingly intricate and twisty, with most of the transitional moments both plausible and unforeseen. The characters are fully-realized and engaging, cops and robbers, good guys and bad guys alike (the sets aren’t mutually exclusive) and interact and affect one another in very recognizable and surprising patterns. There’s more than a bit of humor in the show. The main plot lines are ingenious, and the story telling, especially that of the unreliable narrator, Tokyo, will keep the average viewer grinning and engaged.
It does have plot spackles, sequences where the Stephen King test (“Could that really happen?”) fails, but none are egregious enough to throw you out of the story. You aren’t going to encounter situations like “The cops had me surrounded. I thought all was lost. But just then a meteorite struck!” Some of the escape paths for when the plot is careening down the hill with the brakes smoking are a bit far-fetched, but again, not so much so as to ruin the story. The Professor’s ability to foresee everything is a bit too sublime at times, is all.
Speaking of which, the two main characters are the Professor and the Inspector. Quite aside from an occasionally brilliant battle of wits, they also forge a complicated interpersonal relationship that adds considerable drama to the series.
The eight characters who actually pull the heist (taking over the Royal Mint of Spain, taking hostages, and then stalling for time while they use the mint’s facilities to print over a billion Euros in untraceable currency) are named for cities: Tokyo (also the aforementioned narrator), Lisbon, Berlin, Denver, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm (especially good with hostages, right?) and just to make sure the other hemisphere doesn’t feel slighted, Rio. Each bring their own particular skill set and particular personality to the mix. Similarly, complex and arresting (excuse me) relationships amongst the police, and in various odd ways, between the two groups. It’s a sophisticated and very human form of story-telling.
It’s engrossing television, and with four full seasons now aired and a fifth promised, there’s lots of new ground to cover. It doesn’t end with the escape from the mint; rather, the story is only beginning.
Below are links to “Bella Ciao”, the anti-fascist anthem that has enjoyed such a resurgeance in Europe and South America. It was rewritten as an anti-fascist song during WWII, and Italians and other southern Europeans, forbidden from singing it publicly, would quietly hum it near German occupiers, driving them nuts. Given the current political climate, the timing couldn’t be better. And as the show unfolds, it reflects the increasing tone to be found there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm-hdblSa9E
One morning I awakened,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao! (Goodbye beautiful)
One morning I awakened
And I found the invader.
Oh partisan carry me away,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
oh partisan carry me away
Because I feel death approaching.
And if I die as a partisan,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
and if I die as a partisan
then you must bury me.
Bury me up in the mountain,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
bury me up in the mountain
under the shade of a beautiful flower.
And all those who shall pass,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
and all those who shall pass
will tell me “what a beautiful flower.”
This is the flower of the partisan,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
this is the flower of the partisan
who died for freedom
More electric version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJTOD5jjac4
As sung on the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r32EyN-Kro