Le miracle de P. Tinto

This film is wonderful. It opens with a superbly parodied Kafka parody in black and white set in an insane asylum, complete with Polish dialogue, subtitles, and bureaucratic "Fraktur-ized" Spanish signs and directives all about. It ends with a black and white newsreel from years earlier, and in between occurs some of the wildest comedy I've ever seen, including Martians, a time machine, an African child delivered in answer to an adoption prayer, a remodel contractor who goes bezerk, an express train that roars by every twenty-five years... I could go on and on, since that's just what the film does, with one wild idea after the next. Certain ideas which seemed in questionable taste or too corny at first encounter I grew to appreciate as time progressed, since the wild ideas of this film are cleverly developed, not simply dropped in search of new inspiration.

The central plot of the film is a man's longing for a suitable heir to the Pinto family enterprise, a "oblea" - communion wafer factory, and his struggle to conserve a centuries-long contract with the Vatican - that is, if he can't make more money by going into pizza or quick-order chicken. But this film has several parallel plots (as more of today's novels should) which I won't describe. I don't wish to spoil anyone's fun by over-divulging.

My DVD version came with a choice of English and French subtitles. Of course for the Polish scenes, Spanish ones are automatic. It is not necessary to know Spanish to love this film, but try to appreciate the tone and style of the Martians' speech. This film is a delight! Wonderful! It's rated, I believe, suitable for all audiences - at least all Spanish audiences. There is sexual humor, however, and some death (black humor) - indeed, there's about every sort of non-crude humor ever devised. Still, I would hesitate to show it to young children.