Before I was able to get this movie, I read a lot of negative criticism about it, especially from people who seem to be very fond of Mr. Berlanga's distinguished career. This early film was marked by controversy and bad blood from the beginning; look at the office number given by IMDb; 236 people viewed it at its release. Yes, only 236 people: talk about box office failure! Berlanga was starting to be a bitter critic of his society at this point; he had already had problems with censorship, but somehow he was able to have his view respected on his previews films. Not with these one. Censorship was so hard that Berlanga requested to feature the name of the Priest who imposed major changes on the script as the actual script writer. It didn't happen that way, but the movie's script had to reflect the changes introduced by the censors resulting in a much watered down picture and quite far from Berlanga's intentions, but still bearing Berlanga's seal. Thus, the film didn't satisfy anybody; neither the catholic censors nor Berlanga's followers.
And some of the controversy goes on after 50 years of its release. Fortunately, I'm a casual observer and I can overlook those debates so deeply attached to Spain's tumultuous mid to late XX century life, and take this movie for its sheer value.
It's been said that Berlanga's early style reminds that of Frank Capra. You can take "Los Jueves" a little bit like an evil sister to "What a wonderful life". Instead of having a good hearted man who has selfishly influenced the lives around him and is now in disgrace, you have a bunch of mean and really selfish characters (the teacher, the mayor, the doctor, the inn owner and the wealthiest citizen) who are now in disgrace and come with a plan to boost the economy of the once prosperous town of Fontecilla: they will fake the apparition of Saint Dimas and make a huge business out of it. As in "What a wonderful life", you have a celestial intervention to make our protagonists see their lives in retrospective. But instead of having a nice angel in the making, our citizens of Fontecilla will get gangster looking, straight from film noir Richard Basehart, who will make them see the evil of their ways with a very unorthodox method.
At the end, everything goes well, faith and goodness triumph, and why should this be a bad thing? In the process, we are highly entertained, the photography is great, the direction is excellent, the pacing is fluid and all the actors are superb, remarkably Jose Isbert and a solid as always Basehart.
Give this movie a chance and enjoy it!
And some of the controversy goes on after 50 years of its release. Fortunately, I'm a casual observer and I can overlook those debates so deeply attached to Spain's tumultuous mid to late XX century life, and take this movie for its sheer value.
It's been said that Berlanga's early style reminds that of Frank Capra. You can take "Los Jueves" a little bit like an evil sister to "What a wonderful life". Instead of having a good hearted man who has selfishly influenced the lives around him and is now in disgrace, you have a bunch of mean and really selfish characters (the teacher, the mayor, the doctor, the inn owner and the wealthiest citizen) who are now in disgrace and come with a plan to boost the economy of the once prosperous town of Fontecilla: they will fake the apparition of Saint Dimas and make a huge business out of it. As in "What a wonderful life", you have a celestial intervention to make our protagonists see their lives in retrospective. But instead of having a nice angel in the making, our citizens of Fontecilla will get gangster looking, straight from film noir Richard Basehart, who will make them see the evil of their ways with a very unorthodox method.
At the end, everything goes well, faith and goodness triumph, and why should this be a bad thing? In the process, we are highly entertained, the photography is great, the direction is excellent, the pacing is fluid and all the actors are superb, remarkably Jose Isbert and a solid as always Basehart.
Give this movie a chance and enjoy it!