"If I had to pick a word that sums up the movie and the characters and their trajectories and dilemmas," says Mortensen, "it's pride. It's true of the country, of the characters, of the complicated relationships. They are beautiful for their pride and they are tragic for their pride."
Viggo Mortensen
Mortensen immersed himself in 17th-century Spain
By Philippa Hawker
theage.com.au, March 2, 2007
"I think that "Alatriste" doesn't narrate exactly a simple adventure story; and the viewer who want to see it as something that just entertains will find he was wrong. I think it's a lot more. In my opinion, it's a beautiful piece of cinema d'auteur. It's a sincerely artistic, complicated and very interesting film."
Viggo Mortensen
The filming of Alatriste, by Jesús Martin
Acción Magazine July, 2006
Translated by Paddy for V-W
Among your likings we can find painting and photography. Could you do an aesthetic evaluation of the film?
"They were very careful of the light. There's a lot of Velázquez. I loved that the film was dark in many of its scenes, because in that time there wasn't electric light; and the crew showed very well what that time was like, difficult and gloomy. When I saw the result for the first time i thought: "This is what I dreamed of".
Viggo Mortensen
The filming of Alatriste, by Jesús Martin
Acción Magazine July, 2006
Translated by Paddy for V-W
"If this story was contemporary Alatriste would easily be a veteran American sergeant who was in Iraq in 1991, who was also in Panama and in the Central American dirty war, and that, even though he knows that invading the Iraqi city of Fallujah is a bit useless, he just does it. There is not a fixed aim, but loss of lives, and gold, and reputation."
Viggo Mortensen
The Court of Alatriste
By Rocío García, El País Semanal, 6 August 2006
Translated for V-W by Paddy
'Alatriste does not always behave correctly, he is crafty and breaks the law, and he lies to women and gets drunk. He even kills mistakenly, out of anger or jealousy, but he is more real than Aragorn, who always behaves correctly. Alatriste is a more real and darker story. Alongside it The Lord of the Rings is like a fairy tale.'
Viggo Mortensen
A Multi-talented Hero
Dominical, by J. A. - translated for V-W by NacidaLibre
27 August 2006
