The tragedy of migrants who lose their lives in the Mediterranean arrives this Sunday night, the 21st, on the small screen with the broadcast of the three episodes of ‘The Law of the Sea’. The miniseries narrates the real events that occurred in July 2006, when the crew of the fishing boat ‘Francisco y Catalina’ made the decision to take fifty sub-Saharan immigrants who were adrift onto the boat. They took them to the nearest port, in Malta, but that was the first rescue in international waters of the Mediterranean and the authorities and European legislation took a while to know how to act.
Luis Tosar leads the cast playing José Durá, Pepe, the skipper of the boat that rescued the immigrants. The actor chats with La Vanguardia and begins by explaining what the law of the sea is to which the title of the series refers: “It is the law that sailors apply when they find someone in trouble at sea and feel the obligation, because They basically understand that there is no other option, to rescue him; It is a law, so to speak, written only in the hearts of true sea dogs.”
“If you find a human being who needs help, you give it to them. From there, the consequences that this may entail or the circumstances that occur are already the things of destiny,” continues Tosar, who recognizes that, however, not all sailors see it the same, as reflected in the series through of Lolo, one of the crew members of the ‘Francisco y Catalina’. “This character embodies people who are not so clear, who believe that citizens should not be responsible for this situation but that the administration has to take charge.”
In ‘The Law of the Sea’ it is told how after the humanitarian and solidarity action of some sailors, “we find administrations in which no one wants to eat that brown.” The story told is “the first to be made public and in the media, but then it has been repeated on multiple occasions throughout all these years and sometimes with terrible consequences,” continues the actor, for whom it is important that no one forgets the story. tragedy of migrants who lose their lives in the Mediterranean.
The actor personally met the protagonist of the story, José Durá, Pepe, and was left with a very pleasant feeling because he, like the other crew members of the ship, “do not have any pretense of being a hero,” in fact, “just as they tell the story.” , surely you wouldn’t end up doing a series because it doesn’t seem like anything extraordinary.” The actor regrets that, sadly, it has become something out of the ordinary. “Pepe gives us a lesson in humility; “We have turned humanitarian acts almost into a showcase and something to post on social networks.”
Tosar highlights from this series that “after so many years of news with figures and statistics of people emigrating in the Mediterranean, we have made a series in which all these people are represented putting flesh, heart and life into them, and we see all that pain and suffering of those who have come and those who continue to come who are parents, children, brothers, friends… real people.” As artists and filmmakers “this is what we can contribute: transmit an emotion so that the viewer can recognize these migrants as people of the same gender.”
The miniseries is a production by RTVE in collaboration with A Punt (the Valencian regional network that already aired the series earlier this week) that arrives in full tomorrow, Sunday, starting at 10 p.m. on RTVE’s La 1, in addition to being available on RTVE Play. Filmed in natural settings in Madrid, Alicante, Ciudad de la Luz and Santa Pola, the series features, along with Tosar, performers such as Blanca Portillo (who plays the Spanish ambassador in Malta), Sonia Almarcha, Víctor Clavijo, Àlex Monner, Lamine Thior, Carlos Serrano and Pau Durà.
