‘Bird Box Barcelona’ movie review: Fairly engaging companion to the Sandra Bullock-led original

A still from ‘Bird Box Barcelona’ 

I am fascinated by place names and how they are a shorthand for an emotion. So it is with Barcelona, the Spanish city of magnificent Gaudi buildings, Picasso and Miró paintings, and much else. The city of Bird Box Barcelona is, however, a far cry from its vibrant arts-and-culture centre avatar, though there is mention of Montjuïc Castle.

Barcelona in the film is a ghost town ravaged by mysterious entities that drive people to turn upon each other and themselves. The only way to survive the entities and preserve one’s sanity is by not looking at them. There are also the “seers” who have looked upon the entity, lost their minds and roam about in packs forcing others to “see”.

Bird Box(2018), starring Sandra Bullock, based on Josh Malerman’s 2014 post-apocalyptic survival thriller, was Netflix’s most-watched film for the longest time. Bird Box Barcelona shifts the action to the Catalonian city and tells the story of Sebastián (Mario Casas), who is traveling with his daughter, Anna (Alejandra Howard), through the deserted streets.

Injured on a supply run by a marauding gang, Sebastián and Anna seek shelter with a group after establishing their bonafides. When that group is compromised, the two seek shelter with another, in an abandoned bomb shelter. When the new group learns of a safe haven in Montjuïc Castle, where its height allows the Army to build fortifications to keep the entities out, there are those who wish to seek out the castle and others who wish to stay put.

There is Claire (Georgina Campbell) stranded in Barcelona after coming on a book tour, which ironically deals with surviving the modern world; the German-speaking Sofia (Naila Schuberth), who was traveling with her mum to the castle when she was separated; delivery person/quantum physicist Octavio (Diego Calva, Manny from Babylon), an elderly couple, Isabel (Lola Dueñas) and Roberto (Gonzalo de Castro), and a dog walker Rafa (Patrick Criado) with his two blindfolded German Shepherds who the group use as seeing-eye dogs.

Like Bird Box, the story is told in a mix of the past through flashbacks and the present, and there is the mysterious stranger who might be in for good or bad. Padre Esteban (Leonardo Sbaraglia) and the church are an addition to Bird Box Barcelona, with its attendant accessories of stained glass windows, angels, heavenly choirs, the fires of hell, guilt and redemption.

Competently acted with a fair bit of tension and character development, this offering by Álex and David Pastor is a fun addition to the Bird Box universe.

Bird Box Barcelona is currently streaming on Netflix