The third film by Alex de la Iglesia, one of the most impeccable directors of our time. As always with the master, in excess of vitality, cheerfulness of spirit and Kindness.
The Catholic priest deciphered the Apocalypse and learned the date of the coming of the Antichrist. Place of arrival, of course, Madrid. If de la Iglesia were from Chisinau, it would be Chisinau.
So, Father Angel travels to Madrid to sell his soul to Satan and then cunningly destroy the Antichrist. Just like Stirlitz. In order to get into the confidence of the unclean, on the way he tries to do as bad things as possible.
On this path, Providence sends him as assistants both the devoted and reckless fat man Jose Maria, a salesman of heavy music records, and the glamorous Professor Cavanagh, filled with the cynicism of the TV presenter of a charlatan television program.
There is a superbly worked out, textured stereotype of Dumas - the three Musketeers, this time nothing less in the fight against universal evil. On the characters of Athos, Porthos, Aramis, our heroes fall perfectly, and each comes to his mission not immediately, having gone through numerous trials, initiations and transformations.
Of course, in their righteous way they will destroy half of Madrid, but how else? Purification requires sacrifice; holy war is holy war.
At the same time, which is especially pleasant and even delightful - each of the characters goes from the personal to the superpersonal, resolutely rejecting the human, too human, with his head immersed in his purpose and filled with determination, if necessary, to plunge the rest into it to the ears. Man is something that must be surpassed. That's what Frederick taught.
All other personalities, including the most episodic ones, are worked out and texture no less important. The unflappable grandfather of Jose Maria, the militarist mother, the oblique manager of the store guard, the charming virgin who needs to take the blood from her – all are inexorably unique and beautiful. As the girl of the professor, the legendary Maria Grazia Cucinotta appears, demonstrating her mind-blowing shape and for some reason a blonde wig.
And again, not a single negative hero - everyone is shown with thoughtfulness, understanding and love.
I haven’t seen a movie like this in a long time.
And Satan will be put to shame, one way or another.
We all know that sooner or later the devil will rule the earth.
Fortunately, there will always be those who seek to kick a horned goat with its furry five. This time the weapon of revenge is the most natural priest. The canonical foundations of the padre, which unravel the code of the apocalypse, is launched into all seriousness. For under no circumstances should we delay. The prince of darkness has already loosened his clawed paws. The saint rushes into sin, and on his way Madrid is a city of vice, and the cradle of the uncleanness of the civilized world. At least that's what Madrid sees as a director. And it all starts as a standard comedy about good and a donkey. But, with one correction, the degree of black humor is creeping up. There is too little left of the comedic, and the cruelty fills the airwaves with a lush rampage of violence and a display of various deaths, addictions, and simply moral dirt. I don't know where the humor is in the movie, maybe in terms of the dorky metal guy from the paraphernalia store? So, this is a good tragicomic farce, inherent only to Europeans with their composure. The Americans are not going to do that.
I can't take it as a comedy. The subjects are too serious. Yes, there is a comedy, and not yet bald Santiago Saguro, for him by the way can rejoice fans of heavy metal. Spherical metallhead in a vacuum. And his addictions are typical: death-metall, lsd, and floor work. And a newfound friend and colleague lives in a dirty hotel, very similar to a Soviet communal. And in general, dirt: this is the tone of what a fierce accent is worth. Madrid is teeming with homeless, marginalized, and drug addicts. Not a single positive place or moment, all the inhabitants of the Oka camera, one way or another ugly, greedy and vicious, and why, in every possible way multiply the dirt of their actions. The demon knows him, maybe in this way they wanted to emphasize the moment that humanity reached the handle? All we do is sow evil and evil. An interesting approach of the creators, to present everything as a comedy of black humor, but in fact, to fertilize everything with acts of violence and familiar to any resident of the CIS household. Separate homage to a lovingly recreated metal band. It's like it's back at the beginning of zero.
And why, again, I am convinced that Europeans have their own idea of the comedy genre, pardon, the genre of black comedy. Their coming of Satan is a know-how in the spirit of an era, progress that breathes the stench of a new era, and sociopaths and poor souls roam the streets there. Yes, in such numbers that it becomes sad for our progressive humanity, because with such rampant violence, as shown in the film, it makes no sense to trust in God.
Every Catholic priest tries to stay away from Satan, avoiding temptations and leading a virtuous life. But here's the irony: when the Antichrist is really needed, it's not easy to do so. You have to go to great lengths to get the Prince of Darkness to pay attention to you, and even spells with pentagrams do not guarantee anything. What if you need to get in touch with the enemy of the human race?
Despite the fact that “Day of the Beast” is not the first directorial work of Alex de la Iglesia, it was from this tape, which won six (funny coincidence) Goya awards, that its rapid rise began. He successfully ridden the wave - the eve of the two-thousandth year was marked by the appearance of such a huge number of delusional theories about the end of the world that a black comedy on this topic became a breath of fresh air. Popularity, of course, gave the trial of possible plagiarism – one young author swore that he had stolen the script sent once to the production company of Pedro Almodovar. The reason for success, of course, is not that. Iglesia broke into the world of cinema, having already formed the author's style, part of which is the unsurpassed ability to balance at the intersection of genres: drama, satire, absurdist comedy, thrash. He was able – and still knows how, thank the gods – to rock the viewer on an emotional swing so that by the end you simply can not draw a clear line between funny and tragic. Those who do not like this blur, it is generally difficult to find something suitable in the world of Spanish cinema.
“Day of the Beast” could be called an exemplary black comedy, if the director had a habit of closing in on a single genre. But the resulting Babylonian mixture is difficult to determine unequivocally: it looks like the novels of Dan Brown filmed studio “Troma”, but only an order of magnitude more ridiculous and absurd, although, it would seem, much further. At the center of the story are three main characters: the Catholic priest himself, his metal assistant from the music store and a charlatan psychic from television. This texture trio moves through well-known Madrid locations, including the local Capitol and the unfinished “Gateway of Europe”. Something is constantly happening in the frame, so there is no time to get bored positively: the hero is now looking for the right satanic music and the blood of a virgin, then arranges a splash in the hotel, then hides from law enforcement agencies.
It certainly feels like the Almodovar school here, but Iglesia, like any good student, has groped for an individual path and remains true to it until now: a win-win way to never disappoint his fans. So if you like his work, then “The Day of the Beast” is a must-see. For fans of the more restrained black comedies in the style of Hitchcock’s Trouble with Harry, the film may seem too emotional and kitschy, but it is worth noting that it digs a little deeper and shows an impressive double bottom.
He searched for the metaphysical devil, but found him among men.
Unfortunately, the film cannot be seen as a slightly fantastic black comedy. Even if you want to call it a thrash for the first half an hour, the ending changes everything.
Despite not the best game, the heroes managed to convey the most important. Even if we imagine that the plot is tied to the abuse of hallucinnogenic drugs, it is worth noting the development of characters in the course of action. A big metal player turns out to be a good person who was able to know the Truth. The same applies to the showman, changing in front of his eyes. Instead of pseudo-life and pseudo-ideals, they combine with a half-crazy padre. For what? For the sake of a glimmer of hope, and not even for yourself - for everyone.
There are a lot of storylines in the film, some of which are probably intended for those who are “in the subject.” Or just familiar with some European realities. The tape abounds and a huge number of references to other, such Easter eggs - do not list them, it is better to look again at least for this.
The most relevant, and probably the central, storyline is the events associated with the For a Clean Madrid movement. Despite the fact that neo-Nazis appear in the film sporadically, for a very short time, it seems that it is on them that the plot is tied – everything else is a “gloss” for folk art committees (note – see the methods of censorship of fascist regimes of the middle of the last century, you can find more details in Umberto Eco’s book “Make Your Own Enemy”). It is in one of them that the devil incarnates, who after death is a man.
Not surprisingly, the film has received enough recognition in Europe – but not here. Unfortunately, the Russian audience has either not yet grown up to feature films condemning Nazism in its modern form, or has already merged so much with this phenomenon that it is not able to adequately respond to its manifestations.