The end of 2021, year 1 post pandemic and year 100 of Luis Garcia Berlanga, one of the undisputed kings of the good part of our history. With some titles scattered on our different platforms, we are going to make a series of recommendations about their titles available in streaming.
The last Austro-Hungarian
In addition to the films, we have also seen how throughout the year essays on his life and miracles were edited (and republished) or a documentary by Rafael Maluenda, a close friend of the filmmaker, was launched. Surely the most important and interesting event of all has been the opening of Berlanga’s treasure box, where the script of ‘Long live Russia!‘, fourth installment of the saga started in’ The national shotgun ‘.
As we do not know who will be the brave man to carry out such an impossible task, we will have to settle for remembering some of his most emblematic films distributed throughout our streaming platforms. Not so bad. Berlanga is always a safe value, eternal, ideal to recover or discover new generations.
Moors and Christians
Recently restored, the Odyssey of the Planchadell and Calabuig is Berlanga’s last great film. In fact, I daresay it is about one of his most effective comedies, which was best suited by the modernity of the moment and, surely, one of the most undervalued of his career. The cast, magnificent (Fernando Fernán Gómez, Verónica Forqué, Agustín González, Chus Lampreave, José Luis López Vázquez, Andrés Pajares, María Luisa Ponte, Antonio Resines, Pedro Ruiz, Rosa María Sardà …), carries an irreverent comedy , very Spanish and, as always, a lot of Spanish.
Available on Movistar and RTVE Play.
The executioner
The most corrosive and disenchanted Luis García Berlanga was just as majestic when it came to dodging the census restrictions of the regime. Sneak this beastly denunciation of the death penalty and to the social and cultural values of a country dictated with an iron fist by a character who at that time was known outside of Spain as “the executioner.” Genius.
Available on HBO Max, Movistar and Flixolé.
The national shotgun
Of all the virtues of a film like ‘The National Shotgun’, which seems like a supernatural thing with that cast and those poisoned script lines, the most amazing of all is the domain of space-time of the Berlanga chamber.
Otherwise, little has changed the matter. We could be facing a 2020 documentary in which to follow an infiltrated character willing to squeeze all the possible misery out of the best cribs of the moment.
Available in Filmin and Flixolé.
National Heritage
The best cribs also have moths, and the pillars of the aristocracy collapse. Luis Escobar and José Luis López Vázquez are the hosts of the guided tour of a hilarious museum of errors. A film disenchanted to meet you that has one of those dialogues that I will always remember: “This is the ideal transport. It neither pollutes nor bothers and also gives you a beautiful gentleman perspective.” Healing comedy equivalent to watching those old 80s All Stars. Tremendous merit for being populated solely by shitty people.
Available at Flixolé.
National III
We had two mock aristocratic mousetrap getaways, so the third time is the charm. The crumbs of a trilogy, an offspring, some inheritances. The end of an era. Of a saga. From a history of cinema.
More and more closed in on themselves both inside and outside the film itself. A movie that looks like an effort, but one that is quite hilarious and as old-fashioned as it deserved.
Maintaining the pulsations of the two previous installments was almost impossible, but miracles, to Lourdes.
Available at Flixolé.
Placid
Berlanga was inspired by a solidarity campaign launched by Franco to create this satire, one of his most successful films and favorites of the public. Despite its twists and turns, the movie avoids being a collection of skits. Everything is complemented thanks to a first-rate acting work, an ideal staging and the always-present talent of Rafael Azcona.
Available on HBO Max and Flixolé.
Calabuch
Berlanga’s fourth film was this co-production between Spain and Italy, where the filmmaker uses wit and satire to tell the story of a nuclear filmmaker who tries to escape the pressures and burdens of his life to live a simpler existence in the small town. from Calabuch, Spain. A mind-blowing story that proves that the first and most modern of all It was Berlanga.
Available in Movistar and Flixolé.
That happy couple
The first great collaboration between Juan Antonio Bardem and Luis García Berlanga would take two years to reach the screens, after the success of ‘Welcome, Mister Marshall’. Bardem’s script centers on a young working-class couple. We will witness how they meet, get married and how their plans collide with each other. Direct references to censorship and, again, Berlanga proving to be more modern than you and me. In his first movie.
Available on RTVE Play.
Welcome, Mr. Marshall
Second feature and first hit. Dreams and nightmares based on stereotypes like the western, police interrogations, where Berlanga enjoys playing with gender codes. A delicate, funny film with a lot of heart. A revolution for the Spanish cinema of the 50s that may not have aged immaculately, but almost.
Available at Flixolé.
Thursdays, miracle
The small town of Fontecilla, famous for its hot springs, no longer attracts tourists. Nothing better than a false miracle to turn the town into a new Lourdes. The Berlanga plus Capra, charges against the institutions of Franco’s Spain, starting with the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, the director had to deal with censorship and Opus Dei and was forced to rewrite his story.
Available in Movistar and Flixolé.
All to jail
Far from being one of Berlanga’s most notable films, ‘Todos a la prison’ will be remembered for the Goya awards for best film and director, a pending subject for the filmmaker until then. I think that now that we have recent the last nominations it is a fantastic example of the futility and blindness of awards. Thanks, Berlanga. Happy one hundred years.
Available in Prime, Movistar and Flixolé.