‘Nowhere,’ directed by Albert Pintó, is a Spanish-language thriller drama film about Mia, a young pregnant woman battling to survive in difficult conditions.
Mia flees a totalitarian country at war by hiding inside a cargo ship’s seafaring container.
Mia is separated from her husband, Nico, during the process and must do everything she can to live for the sake of her unborn child.
Given Mia’s precarious circumstances and struggle for survival in the face of the ocean’s wrath, viewers may ask if the film is based on a true story. If you’re curious about the idea for ‘Nowhere,’ here’s everything you need to know!
Is Nowhere Based on a True Story?
No, the film ‘Nowhere’ is not based on a genuine story. The film is based on screenwriter Indiana Lista’s original story. Ernest Riera, Miguel Ruz, Seanne Winslow, and Teresa Rosendoy co-wrote the screenplay alongside Lista.
The plot revolves around Mia, a pregnant lady who flees a war-torn country by hiding in a nautical container aboard a cargo ship.
As a result, she must survive under harsh conditions while also protecting herself and her newborn kid from the dangers of the sea.
While the film is not based on any specific genuine events or true incidents, Lista draws inspiration for the main premise from the real-life experiences of immigrants.
Director Albert Pintó revealed in an interview that Lista knew a couple of Mexican migrants who tried to enter the border by hiding inside containers and vehicles.
The filmmakers interviewed the migrants, and their stories influenced the plot of the film. While researching for the film’s screenplay,
Pintó claimed that the writing team studied human trafficking routes in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.
The filmmaker also mentioned how common shipwrecks are in Spain, and how the drama from genuine incidents was included in the fictional screenplay.
While the story is largely influenced by various real-life situations and migrants’ personal experiences, the film is set in a hypothetical dystopian setting in which the protagonist, Mia, and her husband must flee a totalitarian government at war.
The circumstances of this war are not specified in the film, and it is only assumed that the country at war is Spain. As a result, the sociopolitical events that serve as the backdrop for the novel are wholly fictitious.
However, the storyline conveys a sense of realism through its emotional survival story told from the perspective of a mother.
As a result, Mia’s severe environmental circumstances are balanced with emotional stakes, resulting in a gripping survival story.
Pintó claimed that he wanted to build a tense and atmospheric survival thriller with an emotional heart.
As a result, the film is comparable to films like the 2021 French feature ‘Oxygen’ starring Mélanie Laurent, and the 2000 survival drama ‘Cast Away’ starring Tom Hanks.
Finally, the film ‘Nowhere’ is not based on a factual story. The film’s core notion of a pregnant woman attempting to survive at sea for the sake of her unborn child is original and adds emotional resonance to the narrative.
While the plot is based on formulaic survival drama cliches, the creators drew inspiration for the main character’s conditions and scenarios from true events.
Furthermore, the setting of a war-torn country adds a dimension of sociopolitical drama that solidifies the narrative’s status as fiction.
What Is the Plot of Netflix’s Nowhere?
In the grasp of tyranny and chaos within a European authoritarian dictatorship, heroic souls aspire to flee the grips of a nightmare nation.
In this story of defiance, we meet the tenacious Mia, whose blossoming pregnancy is a tribute to the frail hope for a better future, as well as her staunch companion Nico.
They go on a risky journey, seeking sanctuary aboard a cargo ship packed with cryptic containers, using courage as their compass.
However, fate takes an unexpected turn when a merciless storm at sea cruelly separates Mia from her loving Nico. Mia finds herself in an ultimate survival test after being left to her own devices amidst the raging seas.
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Mia must discover stores of fortitude she never knew existed in her horrible ordeal, summoning every ounce of her resourcefulness to negotiate the perilous seascape.
Her story becomes a tribute to humanity’s indomitable spirit, where the human will endure and triumph shines as a light of hope in the midst of the darkest storms.