‘Gripping’ Spanish thriller with Stanley Tucci quietly added to free streaming service

A ‘distinctive’ series about a diplomat hunting down a team of treasure hunters to recover their spoils is now streaming for free in the UK.

First hitting screens in 2021, La Fortuna is a Spanish-American adventure drama television miniseries.

Directed by Alejandro Amenábar, the series marked the acclaimed filmmakers first foray into small screen productions.

Based on the 2018 graphic novel El tesoro del Cisne Negro by Paco Roca and Guillermo Corral, the six-parter was also based on an incredible true story.

In 1804 the Spanish ship Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes was sunk by the British Navy off the south coast of Portugal during the Battle of Cap Santa Maria.

Over two centuries later, in 2007, the Florida-based company Odysseus Marine Exploration reported having discovered a shipwreck, later revealed to be the Senora.

The crew recovered almost 500,000 silver and gold coins from the wreck before transporting them to the United States.

But soon after the Spanish government kickstarted a legal battle over what it considered to be illegal looting, with the coins estimated to be worth around $500,000 (£368,000).

In the TV show, the story focuses on Alex Ventura (Álvaro Mel), a young diplomat who ends up spearheading efforts to recover the underwater shipwreck of La Fortuna, seized off the coast of Gibraltar by Frank Wild (Stanley Tucci), a treasure hunter.

It was teased of the show: ‘La Fortuna was known to be carrying gold gathered all over South America to fund the Spanish war effort. Wild and his crew claim to have found it by chance. Now the Spanish government wants it back.’

The series also stars Ana Polvorosa as Lucía Vallarta, a civil servant and T’Nia Miller as Susan McLean, a lawyer collaborating with Frank.

At the time reviews of the series were mixed from critics and viewers, but many did share they were drawn in by the unique premise.

‘There is no puzzle to solve in La Fortuna, no hidden messages, and that relative straightforwardness coupled with the actors’ clinic put on by Tucci and Peters is enough to make La Fortuna worth retrieving from the depths of streaming,’ Vulture wrote in its review.

‘La Fortuna’s distinctive story, combined with the standout performances from Tucci and Peters, make the show one we want to stick with,’ Decider shared.

‘It’s a very topical, hot-button issue that the series addresses, intelligently and not without acknowledging that its central controversy has two sides — even if director and co-writer Alejandro Amenábar makes clear which side he’s on,’ the Wall Street Journal added.

Deadline explained the show as ‘a strange, soupy hybrid of courtroom drama, Indiana Jones fantasies and an Iberian version of The Office’.

Meanwhile fans said it was a ‘breath of fresh air worth binging’, a ‘masterpiece’ and even ‘the best Spanish series ever’.

Speaking to Empire in 2022, Stanley spoke about being drawn to his character, who is described in the first episode as a ‘pirate’.

What drew you to your character in La Fortuna****, who is actually described in the first episode

‘I mean, that’s what drew me to him, that he’s really complicated,’ he said.

‘He seems to be one thing, but turns out to be another thing. He’s a very complex guy, and those are always great roles to play.’

In real life, a U.S. federal court and a panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld the Spanish claim to the contents of La Fortuna.

However, they were not returned until 2013, when a court ordered Odyssey Marine to return the coins, which totalled 14.5 tonnes.

They are now held in the National Museum of Subaquatic Archaeology in Cartagena (Murcia) for cataloguing, study and permanent display.

La Fortuna is streaming on ITVX.

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