hyped garbage

Admirable film.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This review is for the Spanish language version. While I know that it was also dubbed into English, I chose to watch the subtitled version instead.I am not Catholic and did not, like so many other reviewers, grow up watching this film. I just stumbled upon it recently and am glad I did. It's a nice little morality tale--one that you really need to stick with, as the ending comes as a real surprise.The film begins with the founding of a monastery. Years later, a foundling is left at the front gate. The monks try to find the mother or a surrogate family but without success--plus, it looks as if many of the monks were so taken with the baby that they didn't try especially hard! Plus, the only person willing to take the child was the cruel mayor--who obviously wanted to use the kid as cheap labor! Years pass and the little boy has remained with the monks. While he is quite mischievous, the monks adore him. He's not really bad--just a 6 year-old who is full of energy and silliness. What happens next you'll just have to see for yourself--I really don't want to spoil the amazing direction the film takes near the end. I will say, however, that it really did come as a surprise and was very sweet.Technically speaking, this is a lovely film. The actors were wonderful as the monks--coming off as very kind men--the sort you'd hope would become men of God. As for little Marcelino, he was simply adorable and effective in the role of this precocious child. Casting couldn't have been much better. As for the writing, the story is terrific but probably not a film an avowed Atheist would enjoy--after all, it's a religious tale. The cinematography is in lovely black & white and the director's touch was gentle and worked well with the story. Frankly, there isn't a whole lot you could do to make this a better story, so I was surprised to learn from the DVD that there is a remake. It might be very good as well, but can't imagine it being any better.This one might just put a tear in your eye--sweet and memorable.

I don't know and never knew many religious films, but despite my lack of knowledge on this sort of films, I can say that "Marcelino pan y vino" is a very good movie."Marcelino pan y vino" is one of those movies that conquers our hearts for its simplicity. It proves that it's possible to make great movies through a simple story. This is a beautiful but sad story. Simple but unpredictable and absolutely charming. Simple yet with a particular magical touch. Perhaps a sweet, innocent, heartwarming and emotional story? Of course! This movie is a great mix of emotions. Not to mention that the ending is completely unforgettable. Yes, it is that memorable. The soundtrack by Pablo Sorozábal is powerful and combines perfectly with the movie's nature.Although this movie is also known as "The Miracle of Marcelino", its title means "Marcelino bread and wine"."Marcelino pan y vino" is a Spanish film, beautifully directed by Ladislao Vajda. Let's be very, very frank: this is really one of the best foreign movies of all time. Luigi Comencini directed a remake of this in 1991 under the title "Marcellino" but I never saw that one.The actors are all great, but cute little Pablito Calvo steals the show as the title character, Marcelino. And those eyes of his are so expressive!This should definitely be on Top 250.

I never knew whether this was one of those Catholic legends that a few people said they experienced and then it becomes written in stone as true, or this is just a movie; but a movie to teach....what? I saw this film when I was in about the third (early 60s). The nun who taught religion nearly went into rapture at viewing it~~~it scared the crap out of me, and the only part I remembered all these years was the end where Jesus KILLS THIS HEALTHY LITTLE BOY!! Our church had a crucifix with a life-sized body of Christ on it and for a long time after that, I was afraid to sit anywhere near the front of church for fear Jesus would reach down and snatch me away. What a terrible film to show young, impressionable children. I just happened to be flipping channels when I saw it on EWTN and wondered if it could possibly be the same movie (I couldn't remember the title) that had me paralyzed with fear when I was a child. It was.I have left the Catholic Church because of the variety of "events" which have occurred through the years. The last straw was the election of the most recent pope, a man who set the Roman Catholic Church back decades instead of moving it forward. I had long ago decided what I was taught in parochial school was a load of crap, written by men to control and frighten people. I am also thoroughly convinced that if priests had been allowed to be married all along, there wouldn't be all this.....well, you know.A movie like this just adds fuel to the fire of disgust that many "fallen away" Catholics feel towards the Church. Things need to change; I don't think anyone will disagree with me on this.

This is by far one of the best family friendly movies I have ever seen. The first time I saw it I was 8 years old and with my dad watching on an old reel to reel, it was his favorite movie also as he felt connected to it because he grew up in a boarding home for fatherless boys. The sound was terrible, the dubbing was way off, the footage was grainy to say the least, and there were a number of cracks in the reel. Despite all those imperfections, I loved every second of this film. For the longest time I could remember every detail about the movie but its name. I wanted to see it again but had very little information to research. One day I described the movie to a friend (this is something I always have trouble doing because I get so choked up), the friend jumped up and said "thats my dads favorite movie, he grew up an orphan" We went to her dad and he knew the name of the movie right away, from there it was just a question of finding it on media other then reel to reel. The first copy I picked up was on VHS, picture quality much better then the reel to reel but still bad. I was going to burn a back-up copy of my VHS version on DVD, but for a movie this great, I will just buy the DVD version, maybe the DVD will be a little better then the VHS version, at least I know I will have the DVD version for a lifetime. Regardless of the quality of the picture, you must see this film