'Marbella', the Series About Corruption That Isn't Filmed in Marbella

The knack of this series for portraying current events is beyond doubt. If the first season dealt with the Mocro Maffia and ... it premiered at the time when the top leader of this organization on the Costa del Sol escaped justice, in the second season of 'Marbella: Judicial File', created by Alberto Marini and Dani de la Torre, the focus is on drug trafficking and the lack of police resources against crime with the episode of the death of the civil guards when their patrol boat was run over by a speedboat from the bad guys in 2024. Narrative pulse, attractive characters, and thrilling action are once again the strengths of this second installment, which has the added feature of looking under the carpet at the organizations hidden in the large mansions along the coast. The paradox is that this production has not filmed a single shot in Marbella and, moreover, its promoters have accused the city of putting obstacles in their way.

The breeding ground for this disagreement already occurred in the first season when a few scenes were filmed in Marbella, turning to Benalmádena or Fuengirola to complete Malaga images. However, most of the filming took place in the Canary Islands for economic reasons, as the promoters of this plot recreated the Costa del Sol there to take advantage of the fiscal incentives of this territory compared to those of the Peninsula. Nevertheless, a few days ago, director Dani de la Torre reignited the controversy by stating that they could have filmed in Marbella until the City Council "read what the series was about" and checked that it dealt with corruption and portrayed the city as the UN of mafia organizations.

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"We were going to shoot at the entrance of Marbella, we had two days left, but they told us that they were going to start some works. What works, my foot! They kicked us out and we ended up in Benalmádena," the director recounted on Onda Cero. When asked by SUR, the Malaga City Council declines to respond to the controversy and merely ensures that the municipal film office, Marbella Film Office, "never poses problems for the filming of any type of production." Moreover, the list provided by this council of recent productions filmed in the city includes the movie 'The Courier' or the series 'Red Queen 2: Black Wolf' and 'The Pioneer', which tell stories of corruption, prosecuted urban planning councilors, and drug trafficking set in the town.

The on-screen solution to this disagreement is resolved with a total absence of Marbella icons and the use of stock drone footage of the Malaga town, which then links to interior scenes, Canary locations, or, for example, the Puerto de la Duquesa in Manilva to simulate a sequence in the charismatic Puerto Banús. As for the plot, 'Marbella: Judicial File' also has the skill to divert the story towards the judicial sphere and take advantage of locating part of the action in the Campo de Gibraltar and on the drug route through the Strait.

Wives by Cuffs

'Marbella T2' thus presents the cone of the Cadiz province as the backyard of the glittering Malaga city and aims to end the major mafias by trying to encircle the lawyers who protect them. In this reshuffling of forces, the know-it-all and charming lawyer César Beltrán (played by Hugo Silva) gives way to Carmen Leal (Natalia de Molina), who even in her surname carries her dedication as an implacable anti-drug prosecutor on the Costa del Sol who is determined to strip the mob's lawyers of their gowns to put them in handcuffs.

With this mix of criminal narrative from the underworld and the opulent brightness of the settings that conveys a direct, fresh, and attractive style, this second season of the series directed by Dani de la Torre and Oskar Santos again weaves an interesting plot that, playing with the crime chronicles of newspapers and the excesses of the most opulent Marbella society, captivates from fiction with a seductive gallery of characters that could very well be real. Case of lawyer Silva or prosecutor De Molina, but also of the police from the first season embodied by an incredulous and skeptical Elvira Mínguez, her hardworking lieutenant played by the Malaga-born Ignacio Mateos, the rebellious young woman defended by Manuela Calle, or the headless narco with the face of Cristalino. A good gallery for an accurate portrait of the mafias and their alliance with corruption that gives rise to some memorable scenes. Like that fashion brand that is capable of paying so that the accused wear their brand's clothing in court and during the walk before the press so that the public with a bad-boy spirit imitates and buys it. Capitalist perversion knows no limits.