La escopeta nacional

It is very difficult to explain why there is such an obsession with "La Escopeta Nacional", the first Berlanga where he went all the way with the sexual humour as a way to reinforced the ugliness. It is not that difficult to explain Berlanga, though, as he had a mood similar to the busier Robert Altman movies, with characters talking over each other while the camera gets besides them, between them, behind them. There is barely a plot in this movie, and there are barely no real characters: they are all archetypes, a grotesque satire of very specific Spanish members of the power hierarchy. Some actors play similar characters they played on other Spanish movies (Agustín González used to play that shouty character, José Luis López Vázquez was used to middle aged sexually frustrated characters...) and they go all in with the exaggeration.

Many of the best actors that have ever existed in the Spanish cinema are here, with the on and off lead of José Sazatornil (funny as ever) and that makes half of the quality. The other half is, as grotesque as it is, how familiar for anyone that has been closed to certain Spanish circles is what the movie talks about. I can even smell the movie. I have been in those awful Autumn celebrations where everything is uncomfortable.

Immensely quotable, I also think it has never been available with subtitles. I tried to start doing it but I gave up because there are so many words everywhere.

Berlanga built up a reputation for miraculously avoiding censorship in the years of Franco´s dictatorship. He was forced to disguise his satires making light hearted comedies unlikely balanced with acurate social observation. In this film he was finally free from this restrictions -after 1975- and was presented the chance and the challenge to carry out his vision. Instead of going for a radical change he simply sharpened his style with a technically neutral point of view, letting the spontaneous dialogues speak volumes for themselves. He fully developed his taste for lively scenes in long shots full of characters featuring demented shades of local customs and manners.

The point is playing with those characters´ mannerisms and making them interact in the most organic way possible, turning the camera invisible. The plot feels like a natural stream of moments in real time more than a conventional sequence of events. Berlanga´s criticism is finally limitless but comedy always comes first. The notes on religion, power or how hard it is to get anything done in that place are never sour but cheerful displays of humanism, clear of judgement.

The main character being an outsider -a catalonian businessman with modern, more european manners- should help a foreign audience to gradually push out into that odd world. I consider this film to be a must-see for any film aficionado from anywhere in the world, more so if you have any liking for italian comedies. Excellent film value, legendary actors and it´s absolutely hilarious, at least for my standards. Criminally underrated.

It's really a great movie. Very funny. Show the decadence of the spanish society of the seventies. You can find very funny characters, all of them caricatures of the "spanish way of life...". The problem is that you have to know well the spanish society to understand the jokes.

This is just an Spanish "hick" movie, quite typical from the Spanish folklore at the time. It just an extreme caricature of certain "archetypical" characters, taken to excessive levels of vulgarity and stupidity (hicks). It is addressed to a certain Spanish public that project their own vulgarity to the Spanish society in general and wants to see this movie as an intelligent critic to that society. However the plot is actually quite pedestrian: a business man comes to a hunting organised by people of the high society trying to buy favours and political influence for his business. All the comedy and situations rely only on the vulgarity of the characters.

Compared to other movies of the genre, altough the plot lacks any interest, it is well directed with complex long takes and elaborately choreographed scenes and dialogs.

Spanish coral film dealing with a merciless denounce to hypocrite society located at a luxury mansion , being masterfully directed by veteran Berlanga and full of a high level of ingenious humor , including relentless critical but in malevolent intention . A bustling comedy with an excellent plethora of Spanish players and an interesting screenplay , being based on a story written the same director , and collaboration of his usual, Rafael Azcona . Early the seventies when in Spain takes place the replacement of Falangist ministers by Opus Dei members . There appears Jaime Ganivel (José Sazatornil ¨Saza¨) , a Catalán entrepreneur of mechanical porters along with his lover (Monica Randall) . Jaime organizes a hunting party in the mansion and countryside of the Marquis De Leguineche (the forgotten stage actor : Luis Escobar who steals the show) , located in Guadalajara , to convince some powerful people and ministers to install the automatic porters . The farm where it is organized is full of strange roles and Ganivel has to do everything to get his aims .

In the flick there are especially busy comedy , ironical humor , frantic pace , joy , amusing gags , rowdy satire , noisy hustle and social critical . Furthermore , it contains certain confusion , bustle and relies heavily in exaggerated mayhem ; being in anyway clearly a superior film , a Berlanga's masterpiece . One time finished the Franquist dictatorship , Berlanga along with his regular screenwriter Azcona carry out the realization a known trilogy about the political and social Spanish situation , concerning on the peculiar aristocratic family of the Marquis of Leguineche . Shot in long , complex shots : ¨Planos Secuencia¨, with a lot of rare characters talking , shouting and walking . 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 . We can find very fun roles , all of them caricatures and mirrors of the Spanish society of the seventies , concerning the national reality in ironical and critical style . The movie displays a Spanish star-studded such as : Jose Sazatornil as the egoistic Catalan manufacturer who attends with her lover on a hunt to relate to important people and in a similar role to starred in ¨Todos a la Carcel¨, Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez , Agustin Gonzalez (Berlanga's also regular), Amparo Soler Leal , Chus Lampreave (Almodovar's ordinary) , Fernando Hilbeck , Luis Politti , Conchita Montes , Laly Soldevilla , and Luis Ciges . It belongs to the third period in Berlanga career characterized by commercial and comical films , adding a point of view as critical as realist . Its big success originated 2 sequels ¨Patrimonio Nacional¨(80) dealing with monarchy restoration and ¨Nacional III¨(82) about the power rising of Socialists . Berlanga's conceptual and political audacity, so evident in this film that achieved a big hit . It turned out to be a nice picture plenty of diverting situations as well as black humor and social hypocrisy .

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 . Evocative and atmospheric cinematography by Carlos Suarez . Berlanga filmed several polemic movies during the 50s , all of them were beset by difficulties with the censors caused by real critical to social stratum such as ¨Bienvenido Mister Marshall¨ (1953) , a very good film which tended not to be very well received by the censor for its acidity and considered to be one of the best Spanish films of the history , including a strong portrait of Spanish society and plenty of sharpness . But the main problem is that if you are foreigner you will have to know well the Spanish society to understand the double-senses . His next joint venture was ¨Los Jueves, Milagro¨ (1957), it was modified by the censors and delayed for several years before its eventual release . Subsequently , Berlanga made ¨Placido¨ (1961) masterfully played by Cassen , this is the film debut for the great producer Alfredo Matas and received an Oscar nomination in 1963 , being well-received at the International Festivals , reviewing the useless charity , it's a sublime film but with censorship realized by this great maestro Luis Garcia Berlanga . Later on , 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¨ with Michael Piccoli , 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 evident disorders in the Spanish upper , middle-class upon being confronted with a new political status quo , realizing a sour denounce of the Spanish society . Berlanga ulteriorly shot a peculiar film titled ¨La Vaquilla¨ (1985) plenty of Spanish-star-cast and set in the Spanish Civil War , resulting to be the first time dealing with this convulsive period in comedy style . Following the same themes, he went on filming coral films such as ¨Moros and Cristianos¨ and ¨Todos a Carcel¨ (1993) that won three Goya Awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Sound ; being his final film : ¨Paris Tombuctu¨. Rating : 7.5/10 . Essential and indispensable watching for Berlanga aficionados . Well worth seeing .