Plácido

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.

This was the fifth Berlanga outing I have checked out after CALABUCH (1956), the compendium THREE FABLES OF LOVE (1962), his masterpiece NOT ON YOUR LIFE (1963) and LIFE SIZE (1974; which I only watched in a trimmed version) – however, I also own WELCOME, MR. MARSHALL! in my collection.

The film under review is a satire about a small-town's attempt to increase its business by inviting movie stars over for their Christmas parade, as well as displaying its social conscience by having elderly locals foisted as dinner guests upon its leading citizens. Both moves are disastrous as, in the first, only second-rate actors turn up.while the aged unsurprisingly prove a burden on the hosts too busy with their own varied agendas! The title figure, then, is an ordinary fellow trying to make ends meet in order to sustain a large (and invariably bickering) family.

As can be gleaned from the above premise, the movie features such an extensive cast of characters as to resolve itself in an endless sea of chatter - tiring the viewer out trying to keep up with the large but unevenly placed English subtitles! This is not to say that the end result is not enjoyable throughout: indeed, there are a number of laugh-out-loud moments along the way - notably, a disgruntled veteran thespian complaining that he was overlooked in the luncheon assignations and being told by the organizer that he might be better off joining the ranks of the aged instead!; one of the latter suffers a heart attack and, discovered to be "living in sin" by the pious owners with a woman being feasted in another household, it is decided that they marry before the man expires (which he does soon after the ceremony, held despite his sudden reluctance to take the woman for his wife!).

The eventual winner of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, for which this was nominated, was Sweden's THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY; the other candidates were three obscure entries from Denmark, Japan and Mexico (albeit featuring Japanese star Toshiro Mifune!); for the record, among those unsuccessfully submitted for this category were SUMMER SKIN (Argentina - which I own but is unwatched so far), LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (France) and LA NOTTE (Italy). While, as I said, PLACIDO has undeniable merit, it does come across as rather lightweight in this company (for what it is worth, the film is included - indeed, ranked quite highly - in the "Wonders In The Dark" all-time top 3,000 movies list) and was voted fourth best Spanish film by industry insiders and critics in a 1996 Spanish cinema centenary poll(!)...which makes one wonder what the outcome would have been had Luis Bunuel's scandalous homecoming effort i.e. VIRIDIANA (bestowed with the Palme D'Or at Cannes) been entered in the Oscars race in its place! Interestingly enough, PLACIDO did eventually come up against Bunuel's subsequent film THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (1962) at the Cannes Film Festival, but they were both defeated by Brazil's THE GIVEN WORD aka KEEPER OF PROMISES (1962).

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.

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.

A coral comedy with an excellent plethora of Spanish players and an interesting screenplay full of a high level of ingenious humor but in malevolent intention from the same Berlanga and his usual Rafael Azcona along with Jose Luis Colina. Sublime film but with censorship realized by the great maestro Luis Garcia Berlanga . Good film that was beset by difficulties with the censors caused by a relentless critical to useless charity and social hypocrisy . It takes place in a small Spanish town (Manresa , Barcelona) , it deals upon a bunch of motley people , some old ladies (Amelia De La Torre) decide to celebrate Christmas Eve with an aim : each wealthy household of the little town will have a homeless person dining with them that night. The celebrations also include a cavalcade , and in it we find Plácido (Cassen) , the humble owner of a motorcar , whose family , including wife (Elvira Quintilla) , brother (Manuel Alexandre) , grandfather and children are obligated to live in a public lavatory because of the lack of money to pay the rent. Placido is hired by Gabino Quintanilla (Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez) to participate with his three-wheeler in the parade organized for the campaign ; however , there is a problem , he has to pay the second bill of his vehicle before midnight or else he will lose it .

In the flick there are especially comedy , humor , joy , satire and social critical which tended not to be very well received by the censor . At the beginning the story was titled "Sit a poor man at your table" ; however of ridiculous problems with censors resulted to be changed the title . The main and support actors stand out under perfect direction of Berlanga very far from the tenderness that carried out in previous works , including a bitter , pessimistic mirror on the Spanish society by that time . The movie displays a Spanish star-studded such as : Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez , Manuel Alexandre, Jose Orjas , Erasmo Pascual , Julia Caba Alba , Agustin Gonzalez , Amparo Soler Leal , Felix Fernandez , Xan Das Bolas , Luis Ciges : Berlanga's usual , and Cassen film debut . Berlanga's conceptual and political audacity, so evident in this film that achieved a big success . Plácido¨ (1961) is the film debut for the great producer Alfredo Matas and turns out to be a nice picture plenty of diverting situations as well as black humor , however, his strong portrait of Spanish society didn't please the pro-Franco authorities, although the film was well-received at the International Festival and received an Oscar nomination in 1963.

Direction by Luis Garcia Berlanga is pretty good , he shows his skill for edition , realizing long shots with crowd who moves easily and shows the miseries of an amoral society . Fine cinematography in white and black by Francisco Sempere . Atmospheric and lively musical score by Miguel Asins Arbo . Berlanga filmed several polemic movies during the 50s as ¨Bienvenido Mister Marshall¨ (1953) and considered to be one of the best Spanish films of the history . His next joint venture was ¨Los Jueves, Milagro¨ (1957), was modified by the censors and was delayed for several years before its eventual release . ¨That same year, Berlanga made one of his best films: ¨El Verdugo¨ (1963), one of the undisputed masterpieces and fundamental in filmography of Luis Garcia Berlanga and shot at the height of his creativity, in a period cultural difficult, where the enormous censorship of the political regime, exacerbated the ingenuity and imagination of the scriptwriters . He continued filming other interesting pictures as in 1973 he went to Paris to begin filming ¨Grandeur nature¨ , another problematic film , focusing this time on the fetishism of a man who falls in love with a doll . Several years later, after Franco's death, he filmed a trilogy comprising ¨La Escopeta Nacional¨ (1978), ¨Patrimonio Nacional¨ (1981) and ¨Nacional III¨ (1982), where he clarified the disorders evident in the Spanish upper middle-class upon being confronted with a new political status quo . Following the same theme he filmed a peculiar comedy titled ¨La Vaquilla¨ (1985), set in the Spanish Civil War . He went on filming coral films such as ¨Moros and Cristianos¨, ¨ Todos a Carcel¨, and his final film : ¨Paris Tombuctu¨. Rating ,Placido : 7 , above average . Essential and indispensable watching for Berlanga aficionados . Well worth seeing .