Rosa Peral’s Tapesis a Netflix true-crime documentary about a real-life murder case involving jilted lovers, arson, and police corruption, and for the most part, it gets the story right.Netflix true-crime documentaries are a genreunto themselves with everything from serial killers to strange exotic animal trainers getting the miniseries or single-movie treatment. True crime is simply too popular to fail and as long as there are lewd tales of revenge and violence happening in the world, then there are true crime documentaries just waiting to be made out of the material.
While many true-crime documentaries don’t have a chance to get the perpetrators on camera,Rosa Peral’s Tapesfeatures the titular woman throughout the documentary. Even fewer documentaries feature former police officers as the main subjects and fewer still were released at the sametime as a true-crime companion drama.Rosa Peral’s Tapes, therefore, has some key unique factors that let it stand out from the other true-crime documentaries that populate the Netflix library. It’s a fairly unusual true-crime documentary andwhile the drama has some issues with the facts, the documentary sticks to them.
The True Story Of Rosa Peral
Rosa Peral Was Imprisoned For Allegedly Murdering Pedro Rodríguez
Rosa Peral was the primary culprit in a murder that involved members of Barcelona’s Guàrdia Urbana police force (viaCatalanNews). On the night of May 1-2, Spanish police found the charred body of 38-year-old Barcelona’s Guàrdia Urbana officer Pedro Rodríguez in the burnt-out remains of his car near the Foix reservoir (viaLavanguardia). At the time, Peral was also an officer with Barcelona’s Guàrdia Urbana, and concurrently dating her co-workers, the late Rodríguez and Albert López. Quickly, Peral and López became key suspects in the case.
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When the trial eventually went to court,prosecutors alleged that López and Peral conspired together to murder Rodríguez, with the intention of pinning the murder on Peral’s ex-husband, Rubén. During the trial, Peral and López pointed fingers at one another, both claiming the other was responsible for the murder. The prosecution lacked any real evidence beyond circumstantial, so they turned to the press in an attempt to sway minds, and the press bit.
It was a pretty lurid and tantalizing story. Peral was caught in what seemed like a love triangle and the journalists who dug into her past found that she had previously been involved in a relationship with another officer, Óscar, which resulted in nude photographs being leaked and a lengthy trial happening afterward.
Her association with a “revenge-porn” case, romantic liaisons, and the uncertainty of who was responsible for the murder ledthe Spanish press to make wildly inappropriate assumptions about Peral’s character, which she alleges pushed the jury into finding her guilty. Peral was eventually sentenced to 25 years in prison and López to 20 years in prison for their part in the crime.
What Rosa Peral’s Tapes Leave Out
Rosa Peral’s Tapes Stick Mostly To The Facts
Rosa Peral’s Tapesare, for the most part, an accurate retelling of the events that happened in Barcelona in 2017. One thing the documentary does that leaves it open to some questioning is the constant presence of Peral herself, in her first interview since being incarcerated. In the documentary,Peral explains that she was the victim of media sensationalism. While this could very well be true, and the media members in the documentary even admit as much in a few instances, there’s also some strong evidence that Peral was involved.
The documentary shows how much Peral had going against her, and having her as an interviewee paints the audience’s understanding of what happened to Rodríguez. Though the documentary does mention the phone calls between López and Peral that put López near Rodríguez the night of his murder,it fails to mention that the phone was then driven to Rubén’s home to make it appear that he was somehow involved in the case. Furthermore, Peral’s father admitted he lied about his testimony that Rodríguez was alive after he died, suggesting he had been communicating with his daughter about the crime.
Where Rosa Peral Is Now
Peral Is Serving Time In Tarragona, Spain
Rosa Peral went to prison at Centre Penitenciari de Mas d’Enric in Tarragona, Spain in 2018, where she will serve out the remainder of her sentence. After the documentary aired in 2023,Rosa Peral went on record complaining about her appearance in it, and claiming that the documentary had resulted in negative effectson her two daughters,
“The creators had bad intentions when making the series. No one has thought of my daughters and the fact that they are now teenagers.”
Peral also maintained her innocence in these calls regarding the documentary. Soon after, the Catalan justice minister opened disciplinary proceedings against Peral because of her calls to the media. These calls are apparently intended only for personal conversations, not with the media.
Burning Body Is A Dramatization Of Rosa Peral’s Life
Burning Body And Rosa Peral’s Tapes Came Out On Netflix At The Same Time
WhileRosa Peral’s Tapesdocuments the murder,Burning Bodyis the dramatization of the series. The Spanish-language and Spanish-produced film came out the same year asRosa Peral’s Tapesand encompasses eight episodes showing the lead-up to the murder, López’s death, and the trial. Úrsula Corberó, ofMoney Heist, plays Rosa Peral while Quim Gutiérrez, ofJungle Cruise, co-stars as Albert López. Most names are kept the same, though some are changed, like Rubén being called Javi (Isak Férriz).
The documentary includes a significant amount of dramatization and at times seems to both condemn the way the media portrayed her during the trial and also revel in some of the unfair ways they painted her as a kind of femme fatale.
The documentary includes a significant amount of dramatization and at times seems to both condemn the way the media portrayed her during the trial and also revel in some of the unfair ways they painted her as a kind of femme fatale. What the true-crime series does do effectively is convey how much of the conversation seemed stacked up against Peral over López. From the testimony and evidence provided, it seems that López had more cause to murder Rodríguez than Peral did.
That doesn’t mean that Peral had no hand in the murder, but it does show just how vitriolic the media and society can be when it comes to women’s personal lives and sexuality. Even in “progressive” societies, it can be easy to defame women in particular for their romantic histories in a way that men never are. Whether she is truly guilty or not,there’s no denying that the media and courts lambasting of Peral as a predatory woman was deeply steeped in sexism.
It’s a curious example of a true crime drama being somewhat loose with the facts, but being true about the events and world surrounding Peral. Carlos Vidal, who directedRosa Peral’s Tapessaid,
“With the documentary, we wanted to explain the story from a perspective that had never been told, and we wanted all of the voices to be in it, both the main characters, the prosecutor, and journalists. [We wanted to] create a profile of Rosa and her surroundings. I wanted to question how high-profile cases influence the real trial and the jury.”
BothBurning BodyandRosa Peral’s Tapesuse real-life murder to explore more themes about cultural views on women and societal expectations of them. Some may claim this takes away focus from a man’s death, while others may argue no one would pay attention to a woman’s story like this unless it was part of a much grander tale.
Rosa Peral’s Tapes
Rosa Peral’s Tapes is a true-crime documentary film featuring Rosa Peral’s first prison interview. Convicted of murdering her partner with assistance from an ex-lover, the film explores her case and provides insights into her perspective. Released in 2023, it delves into complex narratives of love and betrayal.
