The Castillan town Villar del Rio is excited: American diplomats are supposed to visit soon, so the Mayor decides to stage a giant welcoming party for them, hoping to benefit from the funds of the Marshall Plan, intended to help Europe develop and recover. Flamenco impresario Manolo, who claims to know Americans the best since he lived in Boston, persuades the Mayor to re-decorate the town in Andalusian-style, since the Americans are mostly familiar with that side of Spain. One farmer even dreams of the Three Wise Men dropping a tractor attached to a parachute to his farm from a plane. Locals put on fake costumes and fake walls at the town entrance, but on that day the three American cars just pass through their town without stopping. The locals then remove all the pro-American decorations and resume their lives as if nothing happened.
The feature length debut film by Luis Garcia Berlanga shows him as a director who perfectly knows all the little flaws of Spanish mentality which he then ridicules with such intelligent wit and gusto that not even B. Wilder would be ashamed of. "Welcome Mr. Marshall!" is a giant satire on both the illusion that American exceptionalism will bring perfection and salvation to every country in the world they touch as well that local people should invest their energy into improving their life conditions for themselves, without relying on outside forces or hype to solve everything for them. The story about a Mayor who entices the entire town to put on a giant show to host and welcome American diplomats coming for a visit is used to portray all sorts of mentality of pandering, flattery, sycophancy and overall servility towards someone who is promising benefits, and thus some situations reach almost burlesque levels of humor. The opening act is an outstanding example of inventive genius in which Berlanga displays a playful metafilm humor—a vehicle stops at the main square of the town, in a wide shot, and then the narrator starts describing the town, but then stops, the frame is frozen, and suddenly all the people "disappear" from the frame, leaving an empty town: "Excuse me. It is less obstructing this way."
The narrator then describes how everything is in derelict state there, for instance, the school is so old that it still has a map of Europe featuring Austro-Hungarian Empire, whereas one place is a cafe, a casino, a universal inn and a bus station at the same time. Then the narrator goes: "Now I'd like to introduce you to Jeronimo, the town clerk", but since said man is sleeping in his chair, the narrator accordingly lowers his voice and continues narrating—in a whisper! When the representatives arrive in a fancy car and two motorcycles, a whole row of women stop washing their clothes and unanimously raise their heads and stand up, while a cow and a donkey also raise their heads. The expectations of the locals are so exaggerated that the Mayor sets up a table with all people standing in line, so that each one of them can say one wish they expect from the Americans, almost as if the viewers are witnessing a Santa Claus wish list for grown ups. The middle segment of the movie is lacking since it does not have the same energy and inspiration as the opening act, and could have used more jokes, yet the black-humored ending is such a slap that it gives the characters their soberness back and sends a message: never have idols.
Grade:+++
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