6/10
Acceptable film but freely based on a classic novel , it features fun events , adequate cinematography and good settings
14 May 2020
Passable adaptation about a vintage novel that is credited with founding a literary genre , the Picaresque novel , from the Spanish world ¨Picaro¨ , meaning rogue or rascal . The classic Spanish picaro is lovingly transferred to the screen in this decent but free adaptation of one of its first prototypes preceding the immortal Don Quixote . Starring is an adult Lazaro (Rafael Alvarez El Brujo) Lázaro , who has to prove to a court that his unlawful ways are not his choice but the only option to avoid starvation . Lazaro suffers extreme famine because of the lack of food and designs a lot of strategies to get aliments and to escape hunger . He is a poor person of humble origins from Salamanca . Long time ago , his mother asked a wily blind beggar , to take him as his apprentice . Lázaro uses his cunning while serving the blind person as well as several other masters , and also learning to practice all kinds of tricks and traps . His travails afford opportunities for much biting social and political satire sharply observed along the way .There are some flashbacks when Lazarillo (Manuel Lozano) sold into bondage by his mother to the first of a succession of masters . And , subsequently the travels of Lazarillo as he learns to live by his wits, first with a greedy blind beggar (Francisco Rabal) who beats and starves him. He soon learns to outwit his mean-spirited captor in some dealing with delightfully realized sequences and eventually becomes an accomplished street-wise thief who survives quite handily through petty crime. As Lazaro gets various differen jobs as a water-boy , as a town-crier , buth then being detained for robbing , accused and judged . Only one of his succession of masters is kind to him, the impoverished threadbare Lazaro advised by his Arcipreste (Karra Elejalde) takes an allegedly advantageous marriage with one beautiful local girl (Beatriz Rico) , but things go wrong and his pretensions are cruelly mocked.

An enjoyable brooding quality rendition based on an anonymous book that created the picaresque novel , this extensive genre includes ¨Cervantes's Rinconete and Cortadillo¨ , ¨Henry Fielding's Tom Jones¨ and ¨Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn¨ . The identity of the author of ¨Lazarillo¨ has been a puzzle for nearly four hundred years , it is likely that the writer chose to remain anonymous out of fear of religious prosecution . Its influence extends to twentieth century , dramas , and movies featuring the ¨anti-hero¨ . ¨Lazaro De Tormes¨ gives a vivid and jolly description of the world of the pauper and the petty thief , including various popular sayings and a great number of of villagers stories . It describes the adventures of a grown Lazaro , amusingly played by Rafael Alvarez El Brujo , exposing injustices who usually suffers while amusing the viewer .Cruel necessity causes the canny Lazaro to leave this most favorite master and move on to yet other unscrupulous patrons and more petty crime in the shadow of the always threatening Inquisition. Lazaro De Tormes comes from river Tormes , this is a river runs through his home town : Salamanca . There is a free fitting to background on the events described on the popular novel , that's why here we find us an adult Lazarillo . This 2oo1 ¨Lazarillo De Tormes¨ was professionally directed by Fernando Fernández Gómez , José Luis García Sánchez with fine actors such as as : Rafael Alvarez el Brujo , Karra Elejalde , Manuel Alexandre , Beatriz Rico , Francisco Algora , Álvaro de Luna , Agustín González , Manuel Lozano , José Lifante , Emilio Laguna , Juan Luis Galiardo, among others . This movie displays an appropriate photography by the great cameraman Javier Salmones . Being masterfully shot on atmospheric location in Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Guadalajara, Castilla-La Mancha, Talamanca del Jarama, Madrid , and other Castilian towns and villages . As well as evocative and appropriate musical score by Roque Baños.

This classic novel has been adapted several times : a silent rendition , 1925 , by Florian Rey with Jose Nieto , Conchita Montenegro and Pitusin . The classic version : Lazarillo de Tormes 1959 by Cesar Fernández Ardavin and it won the Golden Bear in Berlin Festival , played by Juanjo Menendez , Paeoletti , Carlos Casaravilla , Antonio Molino , Margarita Lozano , here Lazarillo deals with a blind , a selfish verger , a starving squire , finally seems to find a good place among a roving roguish company of puppeteers, but just as their wagon merrily rolls away with him as their newly acquired apprentice we are informed that before reaching the age of fourteen, Lazarillo will undoubtedly be hanged for his life of crime . Given the subversive nature of Lazarillo , and its open criticism of the Catholic Church , this film was strongly censored by the Francoist authorities . Furthermore , 1997 retelling titled ¨The Rogues¨ by Mario Monicelli with Giancarlo Giannini , Vittorio Gassman , Giuliana De Sio , Bernand Blier . And a recently made episode 2016 from the successful series ¨El Ministerio Del Tiempo¨ was starred by El Lazarillo De Tormes along with Rodolfo Sancho and Aura Garrido .
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed