Published via Ecency

(source:tmdb.org)

Whenever Spanish cinema industry is mentioned, most people think of Pedro Almodovar and other film-makers that win festival awards and make snobbish critics happy. It is less known that some Spanish film-makers are more commercially oriented and that the most successful Spanish films are those that pander to the tastes of the general audience. Best example is Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley, 1998 comedy written and directed by Santiago Segura. This film was so successful that it managed to beat Titanic at the Spanish box-office (and have a sequel). Very few film industries can pride themselves with such achievement.

Protagonist of the film is Jose Luis Torrente (played by Santiago Segura), middle-aged overweight Madrid policeman who forgot to tell everyone that he had been thrown out of the force. This comes handy because otherwise few people would tolerate his obnoxious behaviour - excessive drinking, drug use, petty thefts and harassment of blacks, homosexuals and drug addicts unfortunate enough to cross his path. Even more revolting is the treatment of his wheelchair-bound father (played by Tony Leblanc) whom he forces to beg on the streets in order to get additional income. One day a new family arrives in Torrente's neighbourhood and Torrente can't fail to notice Amparito (played by Neus Asensi), gorgeous young woman rumoured to be nymphomaniac. Torrente, of course, decides to bring her to his bed and the way to do it is by befriending her young cousin Rafi (played by Javier Camara), naive idealistic nerd who dreams of becoming Madrid's equivalent of Dirty Harry. After accidentally uncovering major drug dealing operation in local Chinese restaurant, Torrente recruits Rafi and his nerdish friends for the big showdown with local drug lords.

Santiago Segura developed his character of Torrente by enhancing all the negative stereotypes of Spanish macho men and twisting all the tough cop cliches of 1970s and 1980s Hollywood action films. While doing so, he discarded all considerations of "political correctness" and good taste. Result is the character pathetic and magnificent in the same time - a man whose unapologetic wickedness becomes a charming quality of its own. Segura is very good in this role and aided by many respectable Spanish actors in minor roles. The film works best in the first half, when the humour revolves around title character. Some jokes, like those about the fans of Atletico Madrid, would be incomprehensible to non-Spanish and non-European audiences, but even with them Torrente is universally entertaining.

Unfortunately, in the second half Segura must introduce some sort of plot. At the end his scriptwriting abilities fail him; the second part is devoid of humour and looks more like conventional thriller (with conventional ending) than subversively black comedy. But even with such a disappointing ending, Torrente should be recommended for all those yearning for non-Hollywood treatment of genre films.
RATING: 5/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on June 14th 2004)