Placido (1961) 480p w/Eng subs

Comedy | Spain | Spanish w/English softsubs | B&W | 84min | Director: Luis García Berlanga Cast: Casto Sendra Cassen, José Luis López Vázquez, Elvira Quintillá, Manuel Alexandre, Mario Bustos, María Francés , Mari Carmen Yepes, Jesús Puche An ill-advised charity campaign encouraging wealthy citizens to break bread with the less fortunate sweeps across a small industrial Spanish town on Christmas Eve. An effective satire directed by Luis Berlanga that compares charity from the head (the cold, calculated or unthinking kind) versus true charity from the heart. The focus is on Placido (Casto Sendra-Cassen), a truck driver who has little money and so making regular payments on his truck can be difficult, so much so that he falls behind and is in danger of having his vehicle repossessed. Meanwhile, he gets involved in a local, annual charity drive that opens up his eyes to the problems and foibles of other impoverished people. After those experiences, Placido has a different attitude toward his monthly payments. The idea for the film came from a campaign created by the Franco regime in the fifties that urged citizens to share Christmas Eve dinner with those who did not have enough resources for a hot meal. The program was called Feed a Poor Man at Your Table. Far from being an example of altruistic charity, this campaign seemed to seek the reconciliation of citizens with their consciences through an isolated gesture of solidarity. This apparent selfishness camouflaged as false solidarity inspired Berlanga to write the screenplay for Plácido.