Enric Auquer plays inspector Jordi Rodón, the Mossos d'Esquadra officer who organised the immediate emergency response after the vehicle attack on La Rambla on 17 August 2017, in Cronos. For Barcelona residents and survivors of the attacks, the film reconstructs the police operation that set up a field hospital and command centre around La Rambla and Plaça de Catalunya.

The Mossos d'Esquadra are Catalonia's regional police force. The film takes its name from Cronos, the counter-terrorism operation activated by the force after the attacks.

Auquer told L'Empordà that he spoke several times with Rodón while preparing the role. He said he initially found it difficult to identify with the character because of his own criticism of the force's handling of accountability and policing at demonstrations.

"When it was time to bring order to La Rambla and Plaça de Catalunya, he was extremely well prepared. He set up a field hospital and a command centre, gathered information and made a great many decisions."

Auquer said his conversations with Rodón had changed his view of individual officers, whom he said could act with professional and ethical priorities during an emergency.

The events reconstructed in the film

Cronos, directed by Fernando González Molina, follows the sequence of attacks and police action between 16 and 21 August 2017, according to L'Empordà.

  • On 16 August, an explosion at a house in Alcanar killed two jihadists. Investigators later linked the blast to the attacks and to the production of the explosive known as the Mother of Satan.
  • On the afternoon of 17 August, a van was driven into pedestrians on La Rambla. Sixteen people died as a result of that attack.
  • In the early hours of 18 August, five attackers were shot dead in Cambrils after a further attack. One person died after being stabbed there.
  • On 21 August, two Mossos officers shot dead Younes Abouyaaqoub, the La Rambla van driver, in the Alt Penedès area. A further person had been killed by Abouyaaqoub during his escape.

The film also portrays tensions between the Generalitat, Catalonia's regional government, and Spain's central government. Diana Gómez plays a character inspired by Patrícia Plaja, who was head of Mossos communications, while Mónica López plays a sergeant whose story addresses the impact on Ripoll.

Reported by L'Empordà.