Wetland (Spanish: El lodo; transl. 'The Mud') is a 2021 Spanish thriller film directed by Iñaki Sánchez Arrieta which stars Raúl Arévalo and Paz Vega alongside Joaquín Climent, Roberto Álamo and Susi Sánchez.
Contents
Plot
A biologist returns to his native land amid a dire drought episode and tries to protect the environment, but he meets opposition from the locals.
Production
The film was produced by Sunrise Pictures alongside El Lodo la película AIE, in association with Telespan 2000, with participation of À Punt Media and support from the Institut Valenciá de Cultura. It was shot in the natural park of La Albufera and its surroundings.
Release
The film screened as the opening film of the 36th Mostra de València in October 2021. Distributed by Vértice, it was initially slated for a 29 October 2021 theatrical release in Spain. The release date was eventually postponed to 10 December 2021.
Reception
Toni Vall of Cinemanía rated the film 3½ out of 5 stars, underscoring it to be a "magnetic tale of scattered violence and social criticism".
Manuel J. Lombardo of Diario de Sevilla scored 2 out of 5 stars assessing that the film gets bogged down in its own redundancies amid dramatic effects and a sensationalist drift.
Elsa Fernández-Santos of El País considered that the film contributes nothing to the environmental dilemma posed by Susi Sánchez' character and "remains in the trite and superficial metaphor of the muddy waters, of the primitive men of the countryside versus those of the city".
Raquel Hernández Luján of HobbyConsolas scored 68 out of 100 points ("acceptable"), writing that the film "works well as a wake-up call on environmental issues and manages to exploit the landscapes to create an unsettling atmosphere", while citing as negative points that the thriller side of the film works in fits and starts and that there are overacted secondary characters detracting from the story.