Das Geheimnis des Marcellino

This movie was excellent. I saw it many years ago as a child in my Catholic grammar school and still remember it. It is a beautiful moving experience and is a movie that can be watched by the whole family. I encourage everyone to see it. We need more movies like this one. I believe I may have seen it again on TV many years ago. I believe people of all faiths can enjoy this movie. The story is about innocence and faith. They also have made a remake of the movie, I believe in 1991. I have not seen the remake but, usually there is nothing like the original. So, if they thought the movie was good enough to be remade, you know it has to be good. Watch this movie, I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Wow, this was stunning, both in photography and in content. Here's a nice, old-fashioned "religious story" you rarely see anymore. The English title goes under "The Miracle Of Marcelino."

It's a simple tale of a group of monks who discover a baby at their monastery doorstep one morning and then raise the boy. They try to find suitable parents for the infant but are unsuccessful. The infant scenes don't run too long because, before you know it, they have fast-forwarded it to when the boy was six years of age....and that's where he stays until the end of the film.

Pablito Calvo as the title character, Marcelino," is excellent. Kudos to cinematographer Heinrich Gartner for beautiful black-and-white photography. The DVD transfer was outstanding, too. The lighting, particularly on faces, is terrific.

Other reviewers here at IMDb, such as Albert Sanchez Moreno, have described the story nicely. I will just add I found it oddly captivating the entire way and very touching and moving in the last 20 minutes or so, after the boy discovers the big statue of Christ and begins communicating with Him. Yeah, I'm sure it looks really far-fetched to almost everyone, especially non-Believers, but I enjoyed and marveled at the end of this film.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the monks in here and why they would "warn" the young boy against going up in the attic, where the statue is located, unless they somehow supernaturally knew what was going to happen.....yet they still should have put their trust in Christ, anyway. Their actions are puzzling at times. There is a real mystery to this story overall, anyway. Not being Catholic, maybe I missed something in the translation. This is a very "Catholic" film but a Christ-believing Protestant as I am can still fully appreciate this story, too, as much as anyone, and I did.

You'll never find this at a rental store but those you are curious, you might want to add it to your queue if you belong to one of those mail-in rental programs. This film was a collaboration of Spanish and Italian filmmakers, I think. There was a color re-make in the early '90s, but I haven't seen it.

It's a film of tender "innocence" like few I've ever seen, which makes it very memorable.

My Dad loved this film My Dad lost his parents and sister in the same month when he was just 5 years old

I don't know if that is why he has almost a reverence for this movie, but he always would look through the channels and the tv guide to find out if it would be airing during the Christmas season. Dad passed away just about a week before Christmas in 2002. He was 81 Each year as Christmas approaches, I find myself looking through the channels and the tv listings to find out if it will be airing during the Christmas season. The actor playing Marcelino did an amazing job expressing innocence, wonder, and an inner sadness when remembering his Mom who he never really got a chance to know. The cinematography...angles, vistas etc. are top notch. The short scenes make the film seem almost dreamlike, jumping from one short poignant topic to the other. The simple, peaceful presentation contrasts to a lot of other films which scream at you to keep you paying attention. This film does not need to do that. Next December, I will find myself scanning the channels and looking through the tv listings.....

A film for ever in my brain. Not a bad thing for a film. I saw it for the first time when I was 8 and stayed with me always. I'm amused by some of the comments leveling this beautiful tale as "sick" and "twisted". I imagine it's the power of goodness that usually provokes more outcries than the power of evil. The film is what it is, no disguises to send its message as in Forrest Gump for instance. The film is a masterpiece no matter how you look at it and Pablito Calvo, the Marcelino at the center of it all, gives a performance that goes beyond any performance of any child actor has gone before.

An user pointed out that some imdb reviews (particularly the early one) were very negative ;but in spite of a huge success,many leftish (Marxist ?) comments were scathing too when the movie was released :remember that Spain was a dictatorship and a French critic went as far as to write that 'if Christ allows the mother-and -child reunion ,it's in a better world ,and thus it solves the problem of the orphanages maintenance".

Today ,when compared to the Joselito Jimenez weepies,which have sunk into oblivion, "Marcelino pan y vino " holds up quite well .That a great director such Luigi COMENCINI made a remake is proof positive that the movie has worn well ,even though today's children may not get something out of it.

Everyone will agree that Pablito Calvo gives one of the best child actor performances of all time ;one can,however ,prefer to the scenes in the attic :

-the bread which diminishes ,much to the monk /cook's surprise .

-the fair ,where the stolen apple creates a "butterfly effect" in miniature .

-the boy learning his alphabet,under a monk's watchful eye.

-the meeting with the woman with a madonna face(wish she could be my mama).

-the hidden treasures in the wall.