Placido (1961)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- This is an effective satire that pans charity from the head - the cold, calculated or unthinking kind - as versus charity from the heart. The focus is on Placido (Cassen), a truck driver who has little money and so making regular payments on his truck can be difficult, so much so that he gets 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.
- Actors:
- Cassen, José Luis López Vázquez, Elvira Quintillá, Manuel Alexandre, Mario Bustos, María Francés, Mari Carmen Yepes, Jesús Puche, Roberto Llamas, Amelia de la Torre, Juan G. Medina, José María Caffarel, Xan das Bolas, Fernando Delgado, Laura Granados, Juan Manuel Simón, Carmen Valencia, Gloria Osuna, Francisco Aguilera, Juan Torres
- Directors:
- Luis García Berlanga
- Producers:
- Alfredo Matas
- Writers:
- Rafael Azcona, Luis García Berlanga, José Luis Colina, José Luis Font
- Aka:
- Plácido
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy, Drama
- Countries:
- Spain
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Reviews (1) of Placido
Goodwill to All, Terms and Conditions Apply - Placido review by griggs
About twenty minutes into Plácido I realised my shoulders were up round my ears. Not because anything “exciting” was going on, but because the film never shuts up. People talk, shout, pray and bicker over each other until you start to feel like the poor sod driving the motocarro through it all.
It’s Franco-era Spain, and Berlanga is busy tearing into state-approved charity. The “Seat a Poor Person at Your Table” campaign is gloriously awful: local big shots audition “suitable” poor people while TV crews flap about chasing heart-warming shots. Meanwhile Cassen’s Plácido runs endless errands, fobbed off every time he tries to get the money he’s owed so he can keep his vehicle – and a bit of self-respect.
Berlanga stages the chaos beautifully: packed frames, processions, a town lit like a nativity sponsored by a bank. It’s a Christmas film where the miracle is the rich actually paying their bills, leaving you laughing and quietly furious.