La Busca reflects the difficulties that many faced when leaving their towns and going to Madrid in search for a better future. Madrid 1900 , Manuel (well played by Jacques Perrin) is involved in this situation, who arrives in the capital as an innocent boy from a little town and due to various circumstances is dragged into the world of crime and the underworld. As the young man from the provinces arrives in the capital of Spain with the intention of earning a living on his own . First, he works in a miserable boarding house where his mother (Lola Gaos) also works as a servant , then in the workshop of a shoemaker's uncle, and later as an apprentice in a bakery . However, his physical and mental weakness drag him little by little into the world of crime and prostitution. Along the way , he meets his naughty cousin (Daniel Martin) and he falls in love for young girl (Sara Lezana) .
First and considerable film by Angelino Fons, who was later demoted, adapting Pio Baroja's novel, centered on the struggle for life of a young man from Soria, nicely performed by the French Jacques Perrin, in the Madrid outskirts of 1900. At first, he settles in a pension where his mother , Lola Gaos works. There he will perform small jobs . He also meets Justa , Sara Lezana, a young woman with whom he falls in love. Due to a special circumstance, he leaves the boarding house and goes to work with his uncle and his cousins fixing shoes . He will also work in a bakery. With his cousin Vidal he will meet new but dangerous friends, knowing the world of crime and prostitution. It is possible to extrapolate from that Madrid, to that of the post-Franco war and hence the successful and sober social criticism of a film that confidently and stylishly portrays the misery and painful life of a boy , while he overcomes sinister events , including harsh as well as brilliant photography by Manuel Rojas , music decoupled and atonal by composer Luis De Pablo and dramatical events that give packaging to the whole.
It will have lost strength over the years but "La busca" must still be recognized as one of the most relevant movies at the time and a key film in Spanish cinema, due to its realistic capacity, its spirit of analysis, its vision beyond the mere story it tells. A film reflecting the slums of Madrid with a number of outlandish characters including criminals, swindlers, thieves, beggars and prostitutes . The principal role is a lonely young man who wanders a ruined Madrid, which is shown in its worst form with old and dilapidated buildings with great poverty and full of scum . There our protagonist makes friends with his cousin, Daniel Martin, who joins his gang of criminals, while he falls in love with a pretty girl, Mrs. Sara Lezana and prostitute Emma Penella . This adequate film shows the rottenness of the characters and a terrible environment where poverty , sleaziness and crime are the signs of society . Usually showing the lousy exteriors of Madrid and not the central or monumental areas or sightseeing , that's why we watch only with the worst environments in the city.
Director Angelino Fons told : "Pío Baroja had sold the rights to La busca to a doctor, Flora Prieto, many years ago and there was a script written by her. She gave it to us to read and we didn't like it at all. So we decided that it had to be rewritten and we simply bought the rights to the novel, mentioning the name of Flora Prieto as co-writer. Later, Juan Cesarabea joined as a screenwriter. They gave me the script and a period of ten days to make the necessary adjustments and to fine-tune it" . The film was presented on September 1, 1966 at the Venice Film Festival and actor Jacques Perrin was awarded the Volpi Cup for his performance in this film. This craftsman Angelino Fons was an acceptable writer and filmmaker who directed some nice movies . He was a director and writer, known for Mar Brava (1983) , Esposa y amante (1977) , Emilia... parada y fonda (1976) , La casa (1976) , Fortunata y Jacinta (1970), Cantando a la vida (1969) , La busca (1966) and Peppermint Frappé (1967). He was married to actress Coral Pellicer. He died on June 7, 2011 in Madrid. Rating La Busca : 7/10 . The flick will appeal to Spanish cinema fans.
