Film director Rodrigo Sorogoyen was especially intrigued by the missing man’s wife, Margo Pool, who decided to stay despite the dangers lurking. In thispsychological thriller, Martin ‘el holandés’ is replaced by Antoine ‘elfrancés’ magnificently played by Denis Ménochet. Like the Dutch, he and hiswife Olga have started an ecological farm in the mountains in Galicia, wherelife is hard. The villagers hope to get out of poverty by having windmillsplaced near the village, but Antoine refuses to participate. That angers hisneighbors, two brothers and their old mother. The glossy Spain magazineESPANJE! wrote a review. The trailer can be seen at the bottom of thisarticle.
The atmosphere becomes increasingly grim and Antoine – just like Martin did -films everything to go to the police. But then one day he doesn’t come backfrom a walk. Despite the fear, Olga (a beautiful understated role by MarinaFoïs) decides to continue the farm and just face the neighbors she fears.Meanwhile, she finds out what happened to her husband. A wonderful film foranyone who wants to get to know the other Spain, with beautiful images of thegreen countryside, in which you hear not only Spanish but also Galicianspoken.
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The real story
The mysterious disappearance of Martin Verfondern previously inspired twoAmerican filmmakers to make the documentary Santoalla (see trailer at thebottom of this article). This was shown at the International Documentary FilmFestival Amsterdam in 2016 and was also shown in the theater in O Barco deValdeorras, the village where the Dutchman was last seen alive while shopping.
It’s a mind-boggling documentary in which Margo Pool and her neighbors tellwhat happened in real life. We see in archive footage how happy Martin was atfirst in the village and how he grew increasingly suspicious. Although the twostories are very similar, there are differences and the ending is alsodifferent. So this is not a spoiler. In the real story, the culprits wereeventually caught and brought to justice. In late 2014, his neighbors, the twobrothers Julio (then 51) and Juan Carlos (then 47) Rodríguez González,confessed that they had murdered Martin in early 2010. In 2018, only thementally challenged Juan Carlos was finally sentenced to 10 years in prison.
According to the judge, it has been established that he fired a shot at Martinwho was behind the wheel on January 19, 2010. The Dutchman would have diedinstantly. His brother Julio would then have helped him to burn the body 18.5kilometers away in a difficult forest area. Meanwhile, the brothers stilllived together in the village with Margo Pool, Verfondern’s widow, whomiraculously didn’t think twice about moving. “Juan Carlos has the mind of aten-year-old. I don’t think you can blame him for this,’ she told deVolkskrant in 2014. “As for Julio, I can understand why he tried to protecthis mentally handicapped brother. I probably would have done that,’ said Pool.
Quarrel over money for logging
According to the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office, the murder was the resultof the disturbed relationship between Verfondern and his wife Margo and theRodríguez family. The two brothers and their parents were the only residentsof Santoalla until the arrival of the Dutch to the village in 1997. The firstyears they had a good relationship, but according to the justice system thatchanged when Verfondern claimed his share of income from the sale of wood fromthe surrounding forests. The forest company gave the villagers an annualfinancial compensation. Until then, it went to the Rodríguez family becausethey were the only residents. Pool and Verfondern therefore took theirneighbors to court. The case eventually ended up in the Spanish Supreme Court.This confirmed the ruling of a lower court at the end of 2009 that theVerfonderns, as villagers, were entitled to their share of the financialcompensation for the timber sale.
A bullet for ‘speeding’
The German naturalized Dutchman Martin Verfondern and his Dutch wife MargoPool moved to Santoalla because they wanted to lead a different life. Theystarted an organic farm there under the name Centro Ammehula where they taughtbackpackers how to farm organically. Martin was shot and killed on January 19,2010 after he had done his weekly shopping with his all-terrain vehicle. Margowas in the Netherlands at the time. According to justice, the mentallyretarded brother waited for the Dutchman at the entrance of the hamlet andshot him dead with a shotgun from less than a meter away. His burnt-out off-road vehicle was accidentally discovered in June 2014 in a forest in A Veigain the commune of Ourense during a forest fire check by helicopter.Verfondern’s remains were found three days later about 100 meters from hiscar. Traces soon led police to the Rodríguez brothers. The prime suspect JuanCarlos, who was arrested at the end of 2014, confessed to having shot hisneighbor ‘because he always drove like crazy’.
Las Bestias can be seen in Dutch cinemas from 20 October. The glossy Spainmagazine ESPANJE! may raffle 3 x 2 tickets among the readers. If you want totake a chance on that, look HERE __on the website of ESPANJE!
SPAIN! __Travel and culture magazine is the Dutch-language glossy aboutSpain and the Spanish-speaking world that appears four times a year in theNetherlands and Belgium. SPAIN! __is a high-quality journalism magazinewith inspiring travel reports, beautiful interviews, fascinating columns,delicious recipes and hundreds of tips for lovers of Spain. Read moreinformation on the website espanje.nl __