Welcome Mr. Marshall

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¡Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall! The film, “¡Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall!” by Luis García Berlanga was a film that used the light-heartedness of comedic overtones to mask the political and religious notions implied by Berlanga. The film is set in the early 1950’s when Spain was in the reign of the Franco regime. Furthermore, the theme of the movie was based on the arrival of the Americans in Spain. In this paper, I will cover two elements that I believe help add to the tone and message of the movie: the narrative and setting. I will be using several sequences to illustrate Berlanga’s views of the state in Spain and the people around the 1950’s. The film starts with the narrator saying “once upon a time”. This is a significant line since it suggests that the content of the film does not depict real-life situations. It is as if the story is in a different world – far from what is currently happening in 1950’s Spain. Much of the narrator’s disposition, in relation to the film, is one who directs and comforts the viewer as the town events unfold. An example of the narrator directing the audience is the town description sequence. In this sequence, Berlanga makes a point to freeze the entire town and erase all the villagers that were on their daily activities. This setting gives a sense of focus on the town itself and this enhances the descriptions of each structure as the narrator talks about them. Now, the narrator describes the village as being a “poor, broke village”. Throughout the scenes, the narrator makes comedic comments of the state of the village by making jokes. An illustration to this would be the school house with the camera focusing and holding on to the view of the outdated European map tacked on a wall. The narrator’s comments on the children receiving a “fine education”. This comment was meant to be a jest as the viewer can clearly see the
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