Maixabel

Maixabel (2021) is a Spanish drama from director Icíar Bollaín, available to watch online on iFILM. It draws on the real story of a woman whose husband, a Basque official, was gunned down by militants at the turn of the millennium.

Eleven years on, Maixabel Lasa gets a letter that chills her: one of the men who killed him, now serving time and cut loose from the underground, wants to sit across from her. She agrees — not out of revenge, but to understand. In a prison visiting room, the widow faces the man who ended the life of the partner she'd been with since she was sixteen. "Everyone deserves a second chance," she says.

Blanca Portillo plays Maixabel quietly, with no histrionics; Luis Tosar and Urko Olazábal sit on the other side of the table. The film picked up several Goya awards and lives on conversation rather than incident. A heavy, hushed piece about a forgiveness almost nobody could manage. Stream Maixabel (2021) online on iFILM.