There are three movies which complete the aforementioned trilogy called The Invisible Guardian (El guardián invisible), The Legacy of The Bones ( Legado en los huesos) and Offering To The Storm (Ofrenda a la tormenta). Coming from the penmanship of the acclaimed Spanish author Dolores Redondo, the first two movies are based on the eponymous novels written by her whereas the final instalment is co-written by her as a screenwriter.
The first movie opens with the gruesome and mysterious murder of Ainhoa Elizasu in a small town called Baztan in Navarre. Amaia Salazar, an ex-FBI agent and now a local police inspector becomes the chief investigator for this case. Soon she and her team realises that the peculiar things in these case are not one off and might be linked to other unsolved murders/ cases.
This propels the team to look beyond this initial case, well into last 20 odd years. As per media, this might be related to the invisible guardian of the surrounding forests but local people think otherwise. During this investigation, the viewers get a glimpse into the history of Salazar family and how the present might be affected by what happened in the past.
The second movie starts after the birth of Amaia’s son- Ibai. She returns to her post four months after his birth and immediately given charge to investigate a secret case reported by a top church cleric. This case is linked with another investigation into spate of sudden, violent suicides. Somehow a psychological perspective is added to this with mysterious circumstances resurfacing from Amaia’s childhood.
How this is related to the bones unearthed from a long lost cave and abuse suffered by Amaia at the hands of her mother is very interesting to watch on the screen itself. Although the second part of this trilogy doesn’t leave the viewers with an open ending, still there are few questions unanswered which are tackled in the third and final part of this trilogy.
The third and final part links all of the mysterious things together and tries to complete the puzzle surrounding Salazar family. It brings forth various incidents from Amaia’s childhood and puts focus on the enigmatic rituals carried out in Baztan in the past. Although all the mysteries are revealed by the end and all ends are tied neatly to present a strongly cohesive narrative, still some attentive viewers might keep guessing about few loose ends.
Therefore, it’s suffice to say that its worth watching these movies in the given sequence and possibly in quick succession as the crowded storyline takes time to place everyone and everything in their own slot. The speed of storytelling is quite sharp in first movie and maintained fairly well during the second one too but the plot slows down a bit in the final instalment. Having said that, it doesn’t hamper the effectiveness and enjoyment from this movie series. So, I would certainly recommend it for a one time watch.