El pequeño ruiseñor

...A long long long time ago ,there was a little boy with a golden voice .He lived in Spain ,but he was famous in France too and this movie was released here as "Le Petit Vagabond" .I did not know ,of course that at the time Spain was a dictatorship.I did not know that Spain's more gifted director Luis Bunuel,was not allowed to film in his homeland (with the famous exception of "Viridiana").And I did not know either that Joselito Jimenez's musical melodramas were brainwashing,part of the propaganda.

Many Joselito's stories take place in a religious catholic atmosphere.This one is no exception;first sequence: Joselito - he kept his real name in his first roles- and the sexton are in the steeple of the church and the boy is singing a secular flamenco tune.Up comes the vicar,but do not panic ,he is a good man who will soon take in his mother,who ,like the prodigal daughter ,comes back to see her only son.

Religion is everywhere . Joselito speaking of his mom "She looks like Mary Magdalene I've seen in our church".The grumpy granddad to his grandson:"your mother is the mother of us all , Virgin Mary!"

Joselito's mother ( who will cast the first stone?) left her husband for a singer who got her pregnant.After his death,the son -who has inherited his father's vocal skills- lived with his grandfather.When the mom comes back,her husband -a farmer- is not prepared to accept the fruit of an adulterous union.

There's in this mushy melodrama a good idea:as Joselito is seriously injured,the stepfather gives his blood to him .What a symbol!