Latest news with #Eternaut
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Eternaut speaks to our uneasy times – that's why this cult comic has become a global Netflix hit
Aliens almost always invade New York, with a secondary preference for rural America. They're typically vanquished by a collaboration of cowboy sacrifice and eloquent leaders who restore order under the stars and stripes. The Eternaut, Netflix's new sci-fi series that became a global hit this month, breaks this mould: giant alien bugs controlled by an unseen extraterrestrial overlord take over Buenos Aires. Victory always seems far away – it's not clear that humanity will triumph. Like the 1950s comic it's based on, the series does not merely transpose alien invasion tropes on a new geography: it rewrites them. The Eternaut isn't about a lone hero who saves the day – it's a story about how ordinary Argentinians face existential threat. There is no single saviour in the story, according to the author, Héctor Germán Oesterheld: 'The true hero of The Eternaut is a collective hero, a human group. It thus reflects, though without previous intent, my intimate belief: the only valid hero is the hero 'in group', never the individual hero, the hero alone.' The series' tagline adopts this ethos: Nadie se salva solo – nobody is saved alone. The premise is strange even by sci-fi standards. The plot of the comic features a lethal snowfall, robot alien pawns, a time machine and a never-seen overlord species known only as Them. And yet it has struck a global chord: the Netflix adaptation captured 10.8m views worldwide in its first week. It made the top 10 in 87 countries. And it has not left the global non-English top 10 since its release. Publishers are rushing to reissue an out-of-print English translation of the book upon which it is based. In Argentina, the original comic has long been a cult classic. Oesterheld's decision to anchor the story in the streets of Buenos Aires allowed the work, illustrated by Francisco Solano López, to resonate deeply. It reflects the fears and dreams of mid-century Argentina shaped by the new social mobility led by organised labour and public universities. It is permeated by the belief that scientific progress could lift people and country by their bootstraps. If the original gave workers reading the comic on their daily commute a dose of optimism, the new series reflects a far more battered society. This generational shift is visible in Juan Salvo, the eponymous eternaut. In the 1957-59 version he was a young family man, the prosperous owner of a small manufacturing business, married to a beautiful housewife and the doting father of a cherubic daughter. In 2025 Salvo is in his 60s, a war veteran with PTSD, divorced, and the father of an independent teenager who is likely a sleeper agent for Them. The shift matters. The Argentina reflected in this mirror is older; it's scarred and haunted by decades of democratic breakdowns, dictatorship, hyperinflation and economic collapse. But it is also a story of resilience. As the local saying goes: Estamos atados con alambre – we're holding it together with wire – celebrating an ability to improvise with whatever material is at hand. In The Eternaut, 'we read a celebratory version of our customs and social organisation, in an artistic format – the comic – that shares some of the conventions of both 'highbrow' art and popular and mass art,' writes literary scholar Soledad Quereilhac. The series maintains, and even elevates, this celebration of argentinidad, or being Argentinian – from humour and music to sociability and card games. Buenos Aires is not just a backdrop, it's a protagonist. The characters fight on streets that remain central to our daily commutes and political battles. These arteries form a line of continuity in a text that has constantly acquired new interpretations as it travels through time, just like its protagonist. That successive generations have found new meaning in The Eternaut, despite vastly different circumstances, is part of what makes the text a classic, according to cultural critic Marcelo Figueras. And the mirror The Eternaut holds up to Argentinian society is far broader than just the story within the comic. When books are banned, they often take on new symbolic power. The Little Prince, a book partly inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's time in Argentina, was banned by the 1976-83 dictatorship, giving it a weight beyond the somewhat naive tale. The Eternaut is similarly charged – Oesterheld, his four daughters, sons-in-law and two unborn grandchildren were among the 30,000 'disappeared' in the dictatorship. The faces of Oesterheld and his daughters have been pasted on Netflix posters lining Buenos Aires' streets – it is a temporally jarring moment worthy of the comic itself. Like the protagonist Salvo, the author – whose remains have never been recovered – is lost in time. And yet the new adaptation makes no mention of dictatorship. For some, this omission may read as historical erasure. But it may also be deliberate – a more general interpretation of collective trauma that sidesteps Argentina's polarised culture wars in which the politics of memory are dismissed as ideological excess or, more recently, as 'woke' distortions by the president, Javier Milei. Or perhaps the absence is the statement. The Eternaut's ideology was always coded in metaphor. Snow falls silently lethal. Alien overlords pull strings. Some read it as a veiled indictment of the military bombing of civilians and the later coup that ousted Juan Perón in 1955. In portraying a dignified, resourceful working class – Peronist by implication – it defied an era in which even saying Perón's name was forbidden. In the series, that appreciative perspective has shifted to Argentina's besieged middle class, once the pillar of the country's exceptionalism, now eroded by inflation and austerity. This too is tacitly political. In Milei's Argentina, where public universities are defunded, cultural institutions gutted and social programmes under attack, the show's message of collective survival, of interclass solidarity, is its own quiet rebellion. Though filmed before Milei's election, its ethos cuts against the libertarian gospel of radical individualism. Even the tagline – Nobody is saved alone – feels like resistance. The symbolism has been adopted by scientists protesting against austerity budget cuts who recently demonstrated against 'scienticide' wearing Eternaut-style gas masks. Salvation, hinted at in Salvo's very name, is the story's elusive goal. The comic ends ambiguously, in a temporal loop. Salvo is reunited with his family, but the aliens are not defeated. There is no cathartic American-style victory. Instead, another alien race touched by Salvo's struggle offers him cold comfort: humanity's fruitless resistance is inspiration for intergalactic intelligent species fighting against Them. It's not a happy ending. But it's not hopeless. The Eternaut carries on, buoyed up by human connection, friendship and stubborn resistance. Proudly made in Argentina. Jordana Timerman is a journalist based in Buenos Aires. She edits the Latin America Daily Briefing
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Netflix Greenlights New Argentine Films As Ricardo Darín & Juan José Campanella Movies Begin Production
EXCLUSIVE: With The Eternaut still nestled high in Netflix's viewing charts, the streamer is adding to its line-up of content from Argentina. It has greenlit two new movies, acquired another, and cameras are rolling on a previously-announced Juan José Campanella film. The two new films are Lo dejamos acá, starring Ricardo Darín and Diego Peretti; and El último gigante, with Oscar Martínez, Matías Mayer, Inés Estévez, Luis Luque, Silvia Kutika, and Yoyi Francella. Production has kicked off on both movies. More from Deadline 'The Waterfront' Trailer: Coastal Family Turns To Drugs To Save Empire in Kevin Williamson Drama Amazon's Head Of Unscripted Series Jenny Falkoff Joins Netflix Josh Hartnett To Headline Netflix's Newfoundland Limited Series; Jessica Rhoades Joins As EP It's actually a quadruple bill of Netflix Argentina production news. We can also reveal it has snagged Risa, also starring Diego Peretti, in this case alongside Joaquín Furriel, rapper Cazzu, and Elena Romero. It will be on the platform after its theatrical release. Meanwhile, shooting is underway on the previously announced Juan José Campanella movie Parque Lezama. First-look pic below. Lo dejamos acá, which roughly translates as We'll Leave It Here although the English title is TBC, follows a psychoanalyst (Darín) who loses faith in traditional methods. He starts crossing some ethical lines with his patients and it is working out fine, until a creatively blocked writer (Peretti) walks through the door. Hernán Goldfrid directs from Emanuel Diez's screenplay. Kenya Films is on production duty. Our lead picture is the first look at the film. El último gigante (The Last Giant in English), comes from Writer-Director Marcos Carnevale. The story follows Boris, a charismatic tour guide who unexpectedly reunites with his estranged father Julián. Their tense and emotional encounters explore past wounds and the possibility of forgiveness. The producers of this one are Leyenda Films & Kuarzo International Films. We've got a first look at this project, below. Shooting has also gotten underway on the previously announced movie Parque Lezama. Written and directed by Juan José Campanella and adapted from his own play of the same name, which in turn was based on American playwright Herb Gardner's I'm Not Rappaport. The film stars Luis Brandoni and Eduardo Blanco as two unlikely friends, one a lifelong Communist activist and the other someone who prefers to stay out of politics. There's been a raft of Netflix news out of Latin America of late, with the likes of Senna, 100 Years Of Solitude, and The Eternaut three of the big-ticket projects. In terms of Argentina, The Eternaut has been a hit for Netflix with a Season 2 now confirmed. Francisco Ramos, Netflix's content boss for Latin America, has led the programming charge. He spoke about its slate of films and series from Argentina in the wake of the latest production news. 'We are passionate about being part of the audiovisual creation of this incredible country, promoting its cinema both within and beyond its borders,' he said. 'We will continue offering the highest-quality entertainment to our members and showcasing the best of Argentina through its films, which are unique and globally acclaimed.' He added: 'I'm especially proud to strengthen our collaboration with Ricardo Darín, with Kenya Films, and with Juan José Campanella, with whom we are already working on two projects. We hope they find a home at Netflix.' Best of Deadline 'Poker Face' Season 2 Guest Stars: From Katie Holmes To Simon Hellberg Everything We Know About Amazon's 'Verity' Movie So Far Everything We Know About 'The Testaments,' Sequel Series To 'The Handmaid's Tale' So Far
NBC News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
How the original 'Eternaut' comic presaged a nation's abductions, killings
'The Eternaut' series begins slowly, on a summer evening in Buenos Aires, with Juan Salvo (Ricardo Darín) meeting up with a group of friends to play truco, a popular card game in Argentina. Tension in the first episode builds after a blackout interrupts the evening. Salvo and his friends don't know it yet, but an alien invasion has begun. And a routine card night has just saved their lives — outside, toxic snow is killing millions of people. As the grim reality sets in, the friends work together to make protective suits for the deadly storm. Salvo dresses up in waterproof material and a mask. Then, he walks out first to search for his daughter Clara (Mora Fisz) and ex-wife Elena (Carla Peterson). Off screen, Salvo's harrowing quest to find his family resonates deeply with many survivors of the military dictatorship. Five decades after the regime ended, families in Argentina are still looking for the children of the women and men who disappeared after being abducted by the military dictatorship. 'It is estimated that 500 babies were appropriated by the dictatorship, of which 139 recovered their identities thanks to the work of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo,' said Nicolini. 'In fact,' Nicolini added, 'Elsa Sánchez de Oesterheld, Oesterheld's wife and mother of his four daughters, was part of this human rights organization until her death in 2015.' One of those 139 babies who learned as an adult who her parents really were is Belén Estefanía Altamiranda. ' I am the 88th granddaughter,' said Altamiranda in a phone interview, referring to the fact that she was the 88th person whose real identity was discovered by the work and activism of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. 'My mom and dad were from Buenos Aires. I disappeared with them, because when they kidnapped them, my mom was pregnant with me.' Altamiranda says she was adopted as a baby and moved to Córdoba at 10 years old, which is roughly 430 miles northwest of Buenos Aires. The paperwork at the adoption center later proved to be false. She confirmed the identities of her biological parents with a DNA test at age 29. By then, Altamiranda was already nine years older than her mother — Rosa Luján Taranto — and seven years older than her father — Horacio Antonio Altamiranda — when they disappeared in 1977. Altamiranda says her biological parents belonged to the Workers' Revolutionary Party. They were held at El Vesubio, a clandestine prison in the province of Buenos Aires where political prisoners were detained, tortured and murdered. Her mother was taken to give birth at a military hospital in Campo de Mayo, a large base that is featured in 'The Eternaut' series. Altamiranda, who now manages the Córdoba office for the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, says the human rights organization is currently looking into what happened to roughly 300 children who were taken from their parents. Altamiranda also pointed out that two of Oesterheld's daughters were pregnant at the time of their disappearance. And in a horrific twist, their children could be watching 'The Eternaut' on Netflix without knowing the tragedy of their biological family. Series' popularity leads to more searches, interest Nevertheless, Altamiranda calls the hit series a 'hopeful sign.' It has popularized the search for the children of the disappeared. It has also increased the number of requests the organization has received to connect possible matches with biological families. The week after the series premiered (May 1-7), the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo received 106 requests. This is six times the number of requests it received, 18, over the same period in 2024. At its core, 'The Eternaut' is a universal call to resistance. And while the comic shows how survival is costly, Sinay says, it also shows how humanity can come together as a heroic group. 'For my generation, growing up as a teenager in the '90s, 'The Eternaut' was already a super-mega-classic,' he said. 'It was always a very political story that defended this idea of a collective hero. In other words, it wasn't so much Juan Salvo as a stand-alone character, but Juan Salvo and his friends. And this made it an epic about ordinary people.'
Arab News
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Review: ‘The Eternaut' — compelling post-apocalyptic sci-fi from Argentina
DUBAI: At first, it seems like 'The Eternaut' is going to be a climate-crisis-focused piece. It's summer and Buenos Aires is boiling in more ways than one — demonstrations against government incompetence rage on the streets while power cuts only increase the oppressive heat felt by residents. Then a sudden fall of deadly radioactive snow kills hundreds of thousands instantly. The snow continues to fall as survivors quickly work out that to venture outside without full body cover and masks is to guarantee death. A small group of middle-aged friends were enjoying their regular poker night when the snow began to fall, and it is on them that the series centers — particularly Juan Salvo, a veteran of the war between Argentina and the UK over the Falkland Islands (or the Malvinas, as they're called in Argentina). There are many other survivors, including people in the neighborhood they've known for years, and the show does a fine job of exploring the escalating paranoia as people accustom themselves to their new reality and realize that their acquaintances are potentially as deadly as the snow. There are echoes of the source material's political edge too, as the line between neighbor and enemy blurs. Juan (a convincingly grizzled Ricardo Darin) manages to find his ex-wife, but their daughter, Clara, is missing — she was at a friend's house when the snowstorm started. Much of the first two episodes is taken up with Juan's unsuccessful search for her. The starkly beautiful cinematography is often breathtaking, and the claustrophobia is palpable, both in the houses of the survivors and in the suits they must wear to go anywhere. Halfway through the six episodes, though, there's a grinding shift of gears. The apocalypse, it tuns out, was actually the result of an alien invasion, the first wave of which involves giant bugs. Juan's super-smart friend Tano correctly predicts that the bugs are controlled by something more sinister. That sudden shift means the enjoyable slow-burn grittiness of the opening episodes is lost, as the show becomes more CGI-action-based. It's still gripping, but what had promised to be a unique standout fades into something far more generic.
Daily Mail
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Netflix fans rush to watch 'mind-blowing' sci-fi series rocketing up the charts with impressive Rotten Tomatoes score and 'chilling twists'
Netflix fans have rushed to watch a 'mind-blowing' sci-fi series that is rocketing up the charts, boasting an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score and 'chilling twists'. The Eternaut, only released on the streaming platform on Wednesday, follows a group of friends in Buenos Aires after a strange toxic snowfall settles on the city in the middle of summer. Much of the city's population is wiped out, with the friends some of the only survivors - and they soon realise the snowstorm is just the first attack by an alien army trying to invade Earth, which they band together to fight. The six-part Argentine series has had a highly positive response so far - it is currently the fourth most-watched show on Netflix in the UK, Metro reports. The Spanish-language show, based on an Argentine comic of the same name from the fifties, also has an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score, at a laudable 92 per cent. And after receiving widespread praise both from critics and viewers alike, it is already confirmed to be coming back for a second season. The six-part Argentine series (pictured) has had a highly positive response so far - it is currently the fourth most-watched show on Netflix in the UK ScreenRant has said the programme 'modernises the story of its 1950s comic source material, providing a gripping post-apocalyptic tale perfect for sci-fi fans'. Gaming and entertainment website Polygon says: 'It's a grounded, tense sci-fi story with cool production design, a beguiling mystery and a focus on human resilience and ingenuity.' And it has been dubbed 'a chilling slow-burn sci-fi with no shortage of twists' by arts and entertainment site Collider. It is popular with IMDb reviewers too, with one user describing it as a 'mind-blowing high-production adaptation': 'Breathtaking high-quality show. A big rare from Netflix.' Another praised the fact it was bringing the beloved comic to the screen for the first time, making it 'a historic milestone for television'. They added: 'This story has left a lasting mark on generations with its powerful metaphor about resistance, solidarity and collective struggle in the face of adversity.' Fans on X have raved about it as well, with one saying: 'If you love post-apocalyptic series, you have to watch The Eternaut.' It is popular with IMDb reviewers too (pictured), with one user describing it as a 'mind-blowing high-production adaptation' One person gave it the incredibly high praise: 'One of the best survival shows I've seen in recent years.' Another went as far as to say they were 'in love with it': 'I'm being 100 per cent honest when I say this is one of the best series I've seen in my entire life and it definitely deserves and award.' The star of the show is Argentine actor, director and producer Ricardo Darín, widely considered one of the best at his craft in his homeland. He starred in the 2009 film The Secret In Their Eyes, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Picture, about investigators working on a murder case in 1970s Argentina. The original Argentine comic the show was based on, by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López, was published between 1957 and 1959. The battle to successfully adapt it for TV has been ongoing for years, since advertisement production company Gil & Bertolini first won the rights nearly 60 years ago, in 1968 - but had their show cancelled after just a 24-minute pilot. Over the next 20 years, other efforts to adapt it also faltered amid financial and copyright problems. One director said at the time the comic could only be made into an English-language TV show - he reckoned it would cost $10-15million to adapt and that only American production companies, with American actors, had that kind of cash. Fans on X have raved about it as well (pictured), with one saying: 'If you love post-apocalyptic series, you have to watch The Eternaut' But many were adamant any adaptation should stick to the story's Argentine roots - and this wish came true in 2018. The author's grandson Martín Oesterheld and a woman named Laura Bruno, who own the rights to the comic, approved the Netflix version, on the conditions it was set in Buenos Aires and filmed in Spanish. The show's Argentine director and creator has previously spoken about how adapting this beloved comic was certainly not something he took lightly. He told Forbes: 'The biggest challenge was creating an original story that still honoured the heart of the source material, while also recognising that it needed to be updated and given new dynamics to fit a different medium. 'A comic works brilliantly as a comic, but when you adapt it to another format, there are a lot of things you need to reconsider. 'And because this comic is so beloved by the Argentine public, there's a lot of pressure. 'You feel like you're handling something everyone wants to remain untouched. 'So, for me, the hardest part was accepting that change was necessary, and at the same time, taking the risk of making those changes, with everything that entails.' French-language film Oxygen (pictured) stars Mélanie Laurent as a young woman who finds herself trapped in a cryogenic chamber, with oxygen levels swiftly dwindling It comes after a Netflix sci-fi horror film, dubbed a 'must watch', terrified fans so much they were left 'struggling to breathe'. French-language film Oxygen stars Mélanie Laurent as a young woman who finds herself trapped in a cryogenic chamber, with oxygen levels swiftly dwindling. Having lost her memory, the woman tries to recall how she ended up in such a desperate situation - all while battling to survive, guided only by the voice of an AI robot. Directed by Frenchman Alexandre Aja, the Netflix Original creation of debut screenwriter Christie LeBlanc has an impressive 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes. And it has received significant praise from the critics, with the Guardian warning despite it requiring 'some hefty levels of disbelief suspension', 'it's a rather elegant contrivance' and 'excellent' French actress Mélanie 'sells it hard'. The film was released in 2021 - but new fans keep rediscovering the near one-woman effort on the streamer, taking to social media to express how captivating it is. One person said on X: 'Oxygen is a phenomenal example of one-location filmmaking done right' One person said on X: 'Oxygen is a phenomenal example of one-location filmmaking done right. 'Brutal moral dilemmas, surprising discoveries about the mysterious protagonist, a fantastic one-woman show from Mélanie Laurent keep the slow, flashback-heavy narrative engrossing.' A fan review noted: 'As the tension build to excruciating levels at the climax, will have viewers so caught up in the action they will need to check they are still breathing.' Another X user commented: 'Gripping, some nail-biting scenes and a great performance from Mélanie Laurent - but maybe don't watch it if you're claustrophobic...'
