In August 2021, many Afghan citizens had just a few hours to gather some of their belongings and leave for the airport. There, only a few lucky ones managed to escape from the capital, Kabul, which had just been taken over by the Taliban. That was the case of the filmmaker Sahraa Karimi, who a few days after fleeing she spoke with Vozpopuli to tell what those moments had been like and what was going to happen to those who had not been able to leave the country, especially women, true victims of the repression that the country has suffered since then.
The creators of the series Unitfrom Movistar+, Alberto Marini and Dani De la Torrethey began to imagine and write almost at the same time that the events were happening to tell what the country lived through, although, yes, from the perspective of the policemen who were the protagonists of their two previous seasons, experts in terrorist investigations who on this occasion traveled to Afghanistan , where “plates are of no use”.
“When the conflict arose and we saw that the Spanish police and the army were involved, it opened the door for us to talk about the humanitarian conflict and to go to the origin of the problem, especially to the loss of total freedomsespecially women and children, who went from having a job and going to university to not being able to leave the house without the burqa,” she told Vozpopuli De la Torre on the occasion of the premiere this Thursday of the series, which was presented in the last edition of the Malaga Festival.
For Marini, the most difficult thing about this third season was facing the “real stories” of a situation that, according to what he admits, he knew “partially” and, when he found “very hard experiences”, acting with “responsibility” when telling what was happening . “Not everything was worth it. The Spanish protagonists had to move away so that the stories from there acquired prominence,” she pointed out.
One of the actresses, Shabnam Rahim, was a boxer who, like other women, had to flee due to the threats she and her family received.
Apart from the policemen who repeat the role, brought to life again by Nathalie Poza, Marian Álvarez and Michel Noher, one of the main characters in this installment is a doctor who is forced to obey the orders of the Taliban who, without knowledge or experience, they take over the hospital where he works. According to the account of the Order, actress Shabnam Rahim, was a boxer who, like other women, had to escape from the threats she and her family received. “She did a sport that is not decent for women. For them, women should do absolutely nothing,” say the creators of Unity: Kabul.
On a human level, the stories of this and other actresses helped them to create credible situations. At the police level, they had access to “everything” and had “maximum collaboration” from the police forces and the army who, according to their thanks, “have been involved since the first season.”
“The investigations by the National Police of Spanish information abroad are routine, they are not something exceptional or that we invented in the series, but on the contrary. It is a task that they constantly carry out because terrorism has no borders“, says Marino. In fact, according to what he says, one of his advisers lives permanently abroad as a police officer from another country.
If we have an elite police force, one of the most recognized in the world, telling it is fine. What they have done in Afghanistan has been very powerful,” says De la Torre.
In the same way, on this occasion they had the advice of the GEO chief who was at the embassy at the time of the evacuation and who has led many rescue operations for Afghan collaborators to allow them to reach Europe, at the same time that they have had the version of the senior Army officer who led the operation in Afghanistanor the journalist from The country Luis de Vega, who was present before, during and after the evacuation of the embassies.
“If we have an elite police force, one of the most recognized in the world, telling it is fine. What they have done in Afghanistan has been very powerful, and when things work, they also have to tell it. We have very professional people, very prepared. And we know from other agencies that the Spanish army has been exemplary and they have helped a lot of people to get out of there. As storytellers we are proud and we like to value it,” says De la Torre.
Unity: Kabul: a western in Almería
The production is undoubtedly more ambitious in terms of landscapes and human resources. From Lavapiés to Afghanistan, although filming in Madrid, Almería and Pakistan, and with hundreds of extras, among them horsemen, who recreate chases through mountainous landscapes reminiscent of the best John Ford western. “Afghanistan is a constant western. The very topography it has makes the horse a means of transport; the towns are far apart, they live like they did 200 years ago and it seems that whoever arrives can mess it up, like a cowboy,” says De la Tower.
Asked about the productions in which this third season can be reflected, the creators of Unit They mention different references. On the one hand, for Marini one of the models has been the Israeli series Faudaa thriller that in his opinion stands out for the way it relates the “truths of the secret police”, as well as what was happening “on the other side of the PLO” without being “Manichaean”.
For his part, De la Torre believes that in this third season, in which he nonetheless sees echoes of Homelands, the true references are not so much series as movies. Specifically, he cites the filmography of Kathryn Bigelow, in her opinion “a superlative director”which in movies like The darkest night (2012) or The Hart Locker (2009) “counts international conflicts with brutal action, close to reality” in which one can believe “everything that happens.” In the same way, he cites the cinema of Ridley Scott and films like Black Hawk shot down (2001). Terror, thriller and adrenaline in one of the Spanish series of the season.
