Streaming the world

One of the advantages of streaming sites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime is the borderless world of entertainment that they provide. Netflix, in particular, has been at the forefront of featuring content in multiple languages, with its suite of Korean thrillers and European period dramas. The same content makes it to different geographies and dubbing — that staple of television channels globally — is done away with in favour of subtitles.

Two recent Spanish shows on the streaming service encapsulate this trend. Morocco: Love in Times of War is set during the Rif agitation against Spain in the 1920s, during which a group of rebels cooped up in the mountains of northern Morocco undertook guerrilla tactics to unseat colonial rule. Morocco tracks the setting up and running of a Spanish military hospital in Melilla to look after the wounded from this agitation. 

It’s a lushly produced show, mostly apolitical but a cracking human drama about the tiny power struggles and the grand romances that come to pass in the backdrop of the conflict. Carmen Angoloti (Alicia Borrachero) is a duchess and a trained nurse who heeds the call of the Queen to travel to Melilla with a group of nurses to give strength and succor to the Spanish war effort.

Among her retinue is Julia Ballester (Amaia Salamanca), who has not heard from her fiancé and brother, both of whom are part of the same regiment. Together with other women from upper-class families, Julia, with little knowledge of Morocco and still less of what it takes to be a nurse, dives into the unknown.

 

Part of why Morocco works is that in spite of this romantic premise, it takes a long, harsh look at the brutality of war. Both, Andres and Pedro, Julia’s fiancé and brother respectively, face not just enemy fire but a conspiracy within the ranks. The show’s portrayal of military dynamics — the discipline but also the deeply entrenched hierarchy — makes for a telling statement.

Finally, the show is a treat for anyone interested in medical practice from a century ago. From the use of chloroform (since banned) as an anaesthetic  to the then developing field of antisepsis and asepsis, Morocco reiterates the notion of how the chaos of war, especially the Great War of 1914-18, has ironically produced great advances for health care.

Gran Hotel (original Spanish title) ran in Spain from 2011 to 2013, and proved to be so popular in that country that it was quickly lapped up across the continent. It has been on and off Netflix for some years now, but currently, the streaming service features all three seasons under the title Grand Hotel with English subtitles.

Often dubbed the Spanish Downton Abbey, the show is set in early 20th century in the fictional town of Cantaloa. Julio Olmedo (Yon Gonzales) arrives in the town to look for his sister Christina, who works as a maid at the eponymous hotel, a super-luxurious property run by the aristocratic Alarcon family. 

When he reaches the hotel, Julio finds that his sister was fired a month ago on charges of theft. Certain there is more to the story, Julio takes up the job of a waiter at the hotel in order to probe the real cause of his sister’s disappearance.

From this premise, Gran Hotel branches into diverse tangents, all of which bring out the class struggles between the Alarcon family and the hundreds of staff that work at the hotel. The family is headed by Dona Teresa (Adriana Ozores), the scheming matriarch who would stop at nothing to protect the family’s legacy.

The lives of her three children — the wastrel Javier; the eldest Sofia, married to the marquis, Alfredo; and the youngest Alicia (Salamanca in another starring role) — revolve around the hotel. Sofia is keen that her husband take over the reins of the hotel but Dona Teresa has other plans. 

Matching Dona Teresa’s villainy is Diego Murquia (Pedro Alonso), the manager whom she looks upon as her successor. To this end, Dona Teresa gets the feisty Alicia engaged to Diego. The dynamic between Dona Teresa and Diego begins as master and servant but soon extends to accomplices. Diego’s wickedness is the more striking because it is undergirded by naked ambition.

Expectedly, a romance will blossom between Julio and Alicia, but first they must resolve the mystery of Christina’s disappearance. The show is particularly good at channelling the struggle between familial obligation and personal dreams, complicated by the secrets that lie buried beneath the shiny façade. 

Purists may deride Gran Hotel for its soapy elements — certainly, there is a fair bit of convenient coincidences that raise questions on the show’s coherence. But the period setting and the rousing chemistry between the leads make it a perfect binge-watch.

Both Morocco and Gran Hotel showcase Netflix’s ability to pick up superior content from different locations and broadcast it to its global audience. With its deep pockets and its own suite of productions, the streaming giant is on course to change the way the world watches television.

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