Los Tiempos de Guerra (Morrocco: Love in Times of War on the English version of Netflix), is set in the Spanish city of Melilla, Morocco, during the Rif War of the 1920s. In true Telenovela style, its plot is riddled with complicated love triangles, near-death misses, and stories of heroism.
General Overview
In the 1920s, the North African territory known as the Rif is resisting Moroccan rule. Eventually, this led to what later became known as the Rif War, lasting between 1911-1927. The series sees the reigning queen at the time, Queen Victoria Eugenia, sending a group of trainee nurses from Madrid's upper class to run a hospital in Melilla to aid the wounded Spanish soldiers.
Love, love, and more love...
The sheer number of characters can seem overwhelming at first, but those who are going to be key to the plot of this historical Telenovela soon become clear.
The nurses serve under the watchful eye of Carmen Angoloti (played by Alicia Borrachero) who herself is under the command of the Spanish Queen (Cuca Escribano). Carmen is a strong-willed character who often clashes with the head of medical services for the army, Vicente Ruiz-Márquez (José Sacristán).
Julia Ballester (Amaia Salamanca), arguably the protagonist of the series, is not a qualified nurse like the rest. Instead, she joins the group on their journey to Melilla at the very last minute with the hope of finding her brother Pedro (Marcel Borràs) and her beloved fiancé Andrés (Álex Gadea). Through much persistence, she manages to persuade Carmen to allow her to train on the job.
As its English name would suggest, Los Tiempos de Guerra is riddled with complicated love stories. Would it be a Spanish drama without it? The other nurses intertwined in this plot include Magdalena (Anna Moliner), Véronica (Alicia Rubio), and Pilar (Verónica Sánchez). Their sheer dedication to their friendship through all of their relationship struggles is the backbone of their stories.
Magdalena, perhaps the sweetest soul of them all, is engaged to a man back in Spain, but falls for Larbi Al Hamza (Daniel Lundh), the Moroccan porter working in the hospital. The big, complicated plot twist? He's Muslim and can only marry another Muslim. What is Magdalena to do?
Verónica, on the other hand, has her hands full with a pushy love interest, one of the doctors Guillermo (Federico Pérez Rey). Meanwhile, she falls head over heals for Julia's brother, Pedro.