Placido

As is almost always the case with the films of Berlanga, this film is a comedy on the surface, which hides a very hard and crude criticism of the situation of Spanish society during the dictatorship. In those years, Spanish filmmakers couldn't speak freely and openly about the dismal state of their country, so they had to pass their message to the audience between the lines. Berlanga was a master at doing this, and Plácido is one of his finest examples. The abysmal differences that existed between the very poor (the majority of the population at the time) and the very rich, who treated the rest with utter contempt and ridiculous condescency, is portrayed with such strength that it can't leave anyone indifferent. But it is done in the form of a comedy, and a very funny one, full of absurd situations and memorable dialogues, but also a very black one, with some scenes, especially near the end of the movie, which are on the edge of the truly macabre. A true masterpiece from one of the greatest Spanish directors.

The atmosphere of this film took me back to another time and place, to a very naive and innocent Spain. This film is Garcia Berlanga's incursion into his own brand of neorealism. The music keeps evoking the scores of the great Italian masterpieces of that period.

Placido, the hero, in a way, is everyman caught in a web of bureaucracy where he has to fight against all the odds to keep his vehicle in order to survive. He does whatever he can in order to pay the draft, but all conspires against him. Placido is a decent working person, a man of honor who has to fulfill his obligations, in this case, paying the draft that is due on the day the story unfolds. Everything is against him. We see him fighting his way to do so, in this, his long journey into the Christmas Eve celebration.

Cassen was a marvelous and charismatic actor who was very convincing as Placido. He's always at the center of the action, and at times, he is even at the center of some of the other characters conflicts. Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez, is very effective as Gabino, the photographer. The rest of the ensemble cast perform very well under the direction of Garcia Berlanga.

The film is a lot of fun.

Directed in 1961 by this great director Luis Garcia Berlanga, believe his better movie with an incredible perfection, handling the times inventing the plane it sequences. With a seemingly simple synopsis: In a city of provinces, the Ladies' Meeting decides to promote a charitable campaign for the Christmas: the small bourgeois es will sit to his table to a poor person in the dinner of Christmas Eve. And to help to convince, also they will have the opportunity to invite the famous one to his table. All this supported by the manufacturer of pots Cocinex. With an exceptional script in which it takes care of all the details, offering a real statement of Spanish, so unbalanced company where the rich ones they are done mas rich and the poor are done mas poor. In spite of the fact that it is of the year 1961 it continues being a masterpiece, which has not been overcome in spite of the years, unforgettable prominent figures, a movie that every lover of the cinema must see.

Cassen's family lives in a lavatory because they are poor. All he owns is a three-wheel truck that he earns a meager living with. He has to pay a bill tonight or lose it, and no one is interested in telling him precisely how much he owes or collecting it because it is Christmas Eve. Everyone is more intent on the local "Win an evening with a movie star" pageant, or making sure they get a good-looking poor person to eat Christmas diner with them, because that's a public charity campaign that Franco is pushing at the moment.

Luis García Berlanga's film is about a Spain where the well-to-do care only about appearances, and while they may attempt to perform acts of charity, they fail to accomplish anything worthwhile because there is no charity in their hearts. It's a very large cast that roams through a dozen households, but always returns to Cassen who's promised this ad that an imposed on, and will, the audience becomes aware, will come aay with nothing, not even a Christmas dinner, because the upper class has to go to midnight mass. It's a wry and ultimately despairing look at Franco's Spain.

I have seen hundreds of placidos in real life,I'm 37 and I was born in south spain, this movie is a fresco very close to the truth, a wonder in every aspect, placido takes the central role, the gravitational axis, everyone is a cinic in this film, except placido, this trick makes everything works as berlanga wants increasing the effect of desolation. Tragicomical in the same way that chaplin and rossellini.