WELCOME MR. MARSHALL!
Special Features: Introduction by film critic and journalist Josep Lambies at the 7:45 p.m. show on Nov. 6
[¡BIENVENIDO, MISTER MARSHALL!]
The Americans are coming! When Don Pablo, the mayor of a quiet Castilian village, learns that a retinue from the U.S. government is set to visit as part of the Marshall Plan, he enlists his constituents in organizing a lavish welcome worthy of Uncle Sam himself. After all, this visit will surely put Villar del Río on the map and solve all its economic and social woes… Considered a masterpiece of Spanish cinema, WELCOME MR. MARSHALL! sees Luis García Berlanga at his finest, skewering Spanish national identity (and America's, to boot). Among the targets of Berlanga's sardonic critiques are the Franco dictatorship's isolationism; hollow patriotism; the conflation of Spanish culture as distinctly Andalusian (think: bulls and flamenco); and the church's exceedingly exaggerated and moralistic sermons. It's a wonder that the film made it past the Spanish censors of the time. DIR/SCR Luis García Berlanga; SCR Juan Antonio Bardem, Miguel Mihura; PROD Vincente Sempre. Spain, 1953, b&w, 79 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Series co-presented by AFI Silver Theatre and SPAIN arts & culture.
Run Time: 79 Minutes
Opening Date: Saturday, November 06, 2021
Genre: Satire
