Streaming platforms, through the documentary genre, have stimulated the rediscovery of high-profile cases from the 80s and 90s. They capitalize on nostalgia, vague memories of events, and the curiosity to understand them better, achieving a phenomenon similar to that of the past. Television's evolution now allows for a more conscious approach to these old stories, a more meticulous understanding of genre conventions, and the use of archival footage to interpret them from a more mature perspective.
One such example is Vallecas File on HBO. It's a two-part documentary that delves into the huge phenomenon poltergeist from Spain, which had an enormous impact on television reporting and entertainment in the nineties. The case broke in 1991 with the sudden death of Estefanía Gutiérrez, a seventeen-year-old girl, the eldest of six siblings from a humble family in Vallecas. It was the era when television personalities like Aramis Fuster, Rappel, Paco Porras, Carlos Jesús, and Tristán Braker were regulars. Fernando Jiménez del Oso was still active on local channels, a leading figure in a whole paranormal culture in Spain. They were familiar faces on magazines and late showsCatapulted by the showmanship of personalities like Pepe Navarro, Javier Cárdenas, Íker Jiménez, Ana Rosa Quintana, and María Teresa Campos, who found in these stories a good hook to captivate the audience.
After Estefanía Gutiérrez died, her family began to experience strange phenomena that the police confirmed: objects flying, knocks on the walls, doors opening and closing on their own, mysterious vomit on the tablecloth, burned photographs of the mysterious mysteries, and shattered glass. Her mother, Concepción Lázaro, ended up becoming another regular on television. Pepe Navarro made her very famous in Tonight we cross the Mississippi And, over the years, all sorts of journalists and ghost hunters visited his apartment.
Rather than being a recommendable documentary, it merely points out an interesting idea, but falls far short. Vallecas FileBased on the previous work of a podcast, it seeks to understand what was behind the phenomenon poltergeistAnd she discovers something far more terrifying than that: an entire family subjected to the delusions of a wicked, manipulative, and psychologically abusive mother. The final scene is worthy of a horror film. But by the time the most revealing and compelling part arrives, there are only a few minutes left until the series finale. It's quite superficial in its portrayal of the farce of a television network that exploited the drama under the guise of curiosity and the grotesque spectacle of evil spirits. Three of Estefanía's siblings tell their side of the story. The pity is that Vallecas File It capitalizes on the ghostly narrative instead of portraying the cynical and cruel television of the nineties and denouncing it as irresponsible by using a tragic family story. It does, at least, capture the essence of an era.
