A Parsley with lots of sauce
The islet of Perejil, six kilometers from Ceuta and two hundred meters from the coast of Morocco, is an inconsequential piece of land. Experts classify it as a rock because it has no inhabitants and no economic activity. However, for several generations, its name connects us with a time and a political context that arouses curiosity and jokes.
Coinciding with the anniversary of the conflict between Spain and Morocco that led us to discover this island on the map, Movistar+ has launched Parsley, a documentary miniseries that delves into the details of the story. In July 2002, a small number of Moroccan soldiers arrived on the island and tied their country's flag to a bush. The rock, which until then had only been used by a woman to graze her goats, became a highly coveted geostrategic area, straining relations between the regime of Mohammed VI and the government of José María Aznar. This led to the intervention of major powers such as France and the United States to mediate the conflict. Much ado about nothing.
Parsley It will be of particular interest to those who remember this political melodrama with perplexity and a good dose of mockery. The three chapters are excessive. The story is very well told and features multiple voices involved in managing the conflict, but the level of detail exceeds the threshold of curiosity we're willing to grant to the facts. The narrative is too drawn out. The creators and screenwriters who delved into the conflict seem to have developed a certain Stockholm syndrome with the story. Having access to so many witnesses and discovering the vast number of nuances, anecdotes, and tensions between points of view clearly captivated them immensely. But the meticulousness ends up eating into the story's agility in some passages.
However, journalistically, it is impeccable and is a very solid document of those events: it brings together prestigious voices from the parties involved. It features appearances by José María Aznar—who may need subtitles to understand it—and by the then-Minister of Defense, Federico Trillo, who is the star. The distance of the years and the ludicrous nature of the story allow it to approach the case with a sincerity and a grim tone that the viewer appreciates.
The first chapter provides the geopolitical context, the second is the countdown to the military execution of Operation Romeo Sierra to conquer the islet, and the third episode reconstructs the operation in detail. The recreations of the deployment by sea and air are somewhat precarious, worthy of a Playmobil model. It's great to have the testimony of one of the Moroccan soldiers and some of the actual images recorded by the army. And it allows for reflection on this policy of easy war, sheltered by testosterone and national pride. It also highlights Aznar's megalomania. Lovers of diplomacy and international relations will enjoy it, but it's not advisable to watch it at times that induce headaches.