Pachelo was convicted: how were the two television series on the María Marta García Belsunce case?

This Wednesday the judges of Section II of the Court of Cassation of Buenos Aires pronounced the sentence Nicola Pachelofor the murder of María Marta García Belsunce.

The crime occurred 21 years ago. on October 27, 2002, at the home of rural victim Carmel de Pilar.

María Marta’s case shocked the country and for years remained without answers from the justice system. The media enthusiasm that was created around this murder was such Two productions have been made for the small screen based on this mystery.

The HBO/Max series

The most recent one was released in 2022 on HBO and HBO Max and is titled María Marta: country crime. Inspired by the high-profile case, the series tells the story of the crime. And it does so with rigor and extreme respect for the case, for the protagonists and for the protagonist’s story. But despite being a story extremely well known to Argentines, the plot is fascinating.

It is structured into eight episodes of 40 minutes each. At the time of the launch of the production it was not known who the perpetrator of the crime was and, despite this, the series is not suggestive in terms of the presentation of suspects and witnesses.

Pachelo is played by Nicolás Francella, and out of respect for the case, he is one of the few characters whose identity has been changed in fiction (they called him Matías Centeno). The series has behind it great research workwhich opens up the panorama of the achimediatic case even more to the viewer.

It is accurate in its setting of each era, the performances are impeccable and it manages to successfully attract the audience while still telling a story that everyone knows. It is very useful and recommended to carefully examine the cause, after knowing the outcome.

Netflix’s proposal

In 2020, Netflix released a documentary about this case titled Carmelo: who killed María Marta?18 years after the shocking murder.

Directed by Alejando Hartmann, the documentary presents evidentiary material never released before and testimonies of people involved in the case, including María Marta’s widower, also convicted and later acquitted of the crime, Carlos Carrascosa; prosecutor Diego Molina Pico and family members such as Irene Hurtig, John Hurtig and Horacio García Belsunce, among others.

This series consists of four chapters of 45 minutes each, in which research materials and multiple interviews with the protagonists of the case are presented.

The goal of this project is neither to solve the puzzles of the case nor to try to influence the public towards a solution. Rather it provides a balance between different hypotheses and accusations.

Hartmann said in an interview with Clarín that he had been studying the year for years and had long wanted to develop this project. “We dreamed of a fiction. Later, a friend of the García Belsunce family approached me and told me that he wanted to make a documentary,” explained the director.