El Wall Street Journal elogia el 'conmovedor' relato de Nevenka Fernández

Ponferrada

El dia del estreno de la docuserie protagonizada por Nevenka Fernández en Netflix, el Wall Street Journal le dedica un largo análisis en sus páginas de televisión.

Escrito por la periodista Dorothy Rabinobitz (galardonada con un premio Pulitzer), el texto recuerda la historia de la entonces joven concejala, desde que denunció el trato 'abusivo y sostenido... en represalia por su negativa a satisfacer su petición de favores sexuales' hasta que consigue una condena judicial para el alcalde, Ismael Álvarez, algo que 'hizo historia'.

A juicio de la periodista, la franqueza del relato resulta 'profundamente conmovedora' y hace hincapié en la reacción favorable al condenado que se produjo en la sociedad. ' un espectáculo bastante familiar en nuestro mundo' que Ravinobitz califica como 'repugnante'

Al término del texto, también relata que, aunque no se recoge en la serie, la esposa del entonces presidente del Gobierno, entregó un mensaje de elogio al alcalde. Aunque no menciona los nombres, en ese momento el presidente era José María Aznar y su esposa, Ana Botella.

Los primeros párrafos del artículo de análisis son los siguientes:

'The woman at the center of “Nevenka: Breaking the Silence” (Friday, Netflix) could not have known that when, as an ambitious student in her 20s with political interests, she was elected to the city council of Ponferrada, Spain, in 1999, the experience would launch her on a path to fame, if that of a rocky kind. A political conservative with a master’s degree, in her new job she worked alongside Ismael Alvarez, mayor of the city.

The first step on that unintended route to fame began when she made a public declaration in 2001 describing the sustained, abusive treatment she had received from the mayor in retaliation for her refusal to accommodate his demand for sexual favors. When she followed these revelations with an actual lawsuit against Mayor Alvarez, which, remarkably enough, she won—she was 26 years old at the time—she made history. No politician had ever been convicted of such charges in Spain, nor been required by a court to pay a fine and compensation—12,000 euros (subsequently lowered). In this three-part documentary (director, Maribel Sánchez Maroto)—whose picture of the popular response to the case in Spain is blood-chilling—Nevenka Fernández recalls the case history 20 years later with clinical directness: a sort that proves deeply affecting as bare-bones factuality so often does.

It isn’t altogether surprising to see in picture after picture the crowds that gathered in the streets after the trial ended, after the revelations of the mayor’s gross acts of retaliation against Nevenka for her refusal to provide sex. Crowds roaring their undying love for Mayor Alvarez, their belief that no greater mayor had ever lived. But that it is unsurprising in no way diminishes the impact of this display of loyalty that knows no bounds, no matter what the accused leader has done—a familiar enough sight in our world, to be sure, and not just in the Spanish city of Ponferrada 20 years ago. Which doesn’t make it any less repellent a spectacle, and the filmmakers have ensured that powerful effect with a treasury of period scenes. They’re images that reveal worlds about the general view people of this Spanish city held just two decades ago—and proudly—of a woman who dared accuse an important man of sexual harassment: a man everyone knew and admired.

It did not increase her popularity that the accuser was polished, educated and very beautiful. There is in the eyes of the women in the film footage shouting their scorn a blazing hatred that’s unforgettable. As are the signs women carried testifying that no one was ever going to harass themsexually. Translation: It doesn’t happen if you’re not asking for it.

The popular Ismael Alvarez had, it’s certain, never before received so much adulation. The documentary doesn’t mention it, but once the trial was over, none other than the wife of Spain’s then prime minister reportedly delivered a message of praise for the convicted mayor.'