This documentary series investigates the persistent questions surrounding the last night of Mario Biondo’s life. He was the husband of Spanish TV host Raquel Sánchez Silva, and this is the reason why this story has gained much attention.
This true-crime series uncovers new details and shares its thoughts on what really happened the evening of May 30th, 2013. It’s been ten years since the event. Let’s see what this true crime story has to offer.
There has been some controversy around the documentary when Mario Biondo’s officer Oscar Tarruella and two Italian journalists were not informed that Raquel Sanchez Silva’s former manager was behind this project. Despite this, Netflix has completed this documentary, and it is available for streaming.
The Last Hours of Mario Biondo review and plot summary
Mario Biondo, an Italian cameraman, was found dead by his housekeeper, hanging in the living room of his Madrid apartment. He was alone, and there were no signs of violence or struggle.
Investigators, family members, cameramen, and journalists all give personal interviews, sharing their experiences and opinions surrounding this case. The interviews are all conducted in casual, homely settings, but the backgrounds all have dark blue tones, giving a sense of discomfort in the familiar.
There is the use of tense and uneasy music throughout to help build and maintain suspense.
In the first episode, we’re shown the crime scene photos and notes, which state a possible suicide, and photos of his wife leaving the scene at the time.
The news then reports a possible heart attack, and after checking phone messages, his research history, bank statements, and the autopsy saying cocaine was found in his system, they began to believe something else had happened. Self-asphyxiation to help him sleep — which has then gone wrong as he was high on cocaine.
Then it was implied it was an erotic gameplay gone wrong, suggested by Raquel on Twitter, which his family strongly denies, to his family saying it was murder — by someone, and then by Raquel.
The way in which Raquel is treated is harsh and unfair. Ten years later she is still being harassed by the family — it’s as if they want to ruin her career for revenge, rather than seek truth and justice in a court of law.
Suicide is something people find hard to understand and accept, and this documentary series is about the family’s quest to prove the opposite happened. I would have liked maybe a psychology expert or doctor to have been in the documentary to support any evidence or give their opinions on the death.
Some of the discussions and contributors feel misleading, biased, and unbalanced. After three separate autopsies, all deemed his death was by suicide. However, the family does seem very set in their opinions and not open to the conclusion of suicide.
The mother was so desperate she even posted a photo of her son’s dead body on social media, as well as videos of her reenacting his suicide to show how it wasn’t possible. Sickening and sad to see.
Overall, the family’s tireless efforts to get their son’s case reopened and their perseverance paid off when an Italian court decided in August 2022 that Biondo’s death might have been a murder and that the scene had been tampered with.
One interesting thing is the family cannot claim Mario’s life insurance unless a court deems it was not a suicide, but a murder. I’ll leave that information with you.
Is The Last Hours of Mario Biondo good or bad?
As a true crime documentary, it’s investigative. There are contradicting statements, investigations from the Italian and Spanish authorities, and in his last days, themes of infertility, brothels, booze, and the question of why would he kill himself.
However, I did feel like I was left with more questions than answers, and I am not totally confident or convinced that Mario didn’t have an overdose and kill himself. There is no evidence to support the family’s claims, and the whole “case” is messy. However, it’s interesting to watch a spiteful family spiral.
Is The Last Hours of Mario Biondo worth watching?
Yes — There are three episodes, with a runtime of roughly forty-five minutes each, and therefore, easy to binge-watch.
What did you think of the 2023 Netflix true crime documentary series The Last Hours of Mario Biondo Comment below.
I personally felt it was a bit of a waste of time. After watching all 3 episodes there is still no proof this is anything other than a suicide. I just see a very desperate family who cannot accept their son committed suicide and is looking for a culprit. I found Raquel always very composed and professional despite the dirt they pulled her through which gives me a more positive image of her than Mario’s family.
The series started out intriguing by talking about infertility, drugs, alcohol, brothels but I do not understand how this relates to the story. There is no background. Did Mario go to brothels or use drugs more often? Did he recently visit a doctor and found out he was infertile? Well, you see what I mean, it lacks more research and just evolves around a mother who doesn’t accept suicide.
The doc series was well done, but it shouldn’t even be one. We are lead to believe that he died under mysterious circumstances and there are facts that don’t align with suicide, like the case has been determined to be.
I can’t say whether it was accidental or on purpose, but he definitely died at his own hands, and this series is just 3 episodes of his family making the most delusional statements and the introduction of more and more experts that conclude over and over that it was suicide. He was too handsome, we wouldn’t go to a brothel and the coroner placed cocaine in his nose have to be the two wackiest of his family’s claims, but the whole series you’ll be left sad as to how heartbroken they must be to be actually living in this level of denial.
The family is constantly putting the blame on his widow, and some of their actions and accusations against her are down right disgusting, and giving them a platform to go on on this ridiculous crusade needs to stop. They even go down the road of trying to say it’s because he was Italian and the death happened in Spain and the Spaniards think they are better than them.
It was made by her former manager, who is also an interview in the series, which could be seen as biased, but as I mentioned before, their ridiculous claims and lack of evidence to support them that they make throughout their interviews don’t leave much room for the viewer to believe that there is any sort of coverup happening.
It is a staged pseudo investigation crime documentary.
Made by the Spanish friend and ex agent of Rachel Sanchez Silva.
It is ridiculous to believe that bookshelve can even hold for a minute a grown man.
To belittle a loving family is awful. Unfortunately he didn’t fit in the life of the Spanish woman and she wanted for sure out. One week after his death she was in holiday, some months after already openly a new man and after that with the help of IVF and a lot of hormones with one pregnancy the two kids.
I’m ticked off that I wasted time watching this. It’s much to do about nothing. Mario Biondo obviously passed accidentally in an erotica strangulation. I feel sorry for his family who are not able to accept the truth, but I feel worse for his wife having to be drug through Mario’s family’s mud. There is nothing worse than losing a child, but please just stop. Let the man (and his wife) rest in peace. I’ve never written a review before, this show was so non-eventful that I had to I would caution anyone thinking of watching it expecting factual twists and turns to not bother. If you’re a conspiracy theorist, enjoy the series.
I’m surprised this gets so many poor reviews.
If you are expecting a who dunnit true crime documentary or new revelations, you might be in for a disappointment. But if you see it in the context of how people deal with grief and how conspiracy theories are created and propagated (nice example in one of the comments above), especially as this is such a clear cut case, this was quite interesting and relevant for understanding this phenomena in more complex cases.
The family get a lot of time to explain their side, but mostly balanced by former manager for the wife and experts on forensics and psychology on the other side especially in last episode. If you only see the first two episodes it will feel slightly biased towards the family due to the amount of time they get.
Only criticism would be that with so many wild theories being thrown around, it was a bit difficult to keep track of what was wild speculation and what was the official police evidence/interpretation.
The family of mario biondo is completely messed up. They want the money of gis life insurance.