El hombre de los hongos (1980)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Roberto Gavaldón

Writers:

Emilio Carballido (writer)
Tito Davison (writer)

Release Date:

9 June 1980 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In colonial Mexico, a wealthy plantation owner forces his slaves to taste some-times poisonous mushrooms, which are used in a family recipe and served at lavish parties. |

Plot Keywords:

Mushroom

Cast

Adolfo Marsillach	...	Everardo
Isela Vega	...	Elvira
Sandra Mozarowsky	...	Emma
Ofelia Medina	...	Lucila
Fernando Allende	...	Sebastian
Philip Michael Thomas	...	Gaspar
Quintín Bulnes
Josefina Echánove	...	Nana
George Belanger		(as Jorge Belanger)
Ana Lorena Graham
Emma Gabriela Navarro
Fernando Sloniso
Luis Miguel Jacob	...	Young Gaspar

Also Known As:

The Mushroom Eater
The Mushroom Man (International: English title) (informal literal title)

Country:

Spain | Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Spain:13

Company:

CCP

Romance and Intrigue in Colonial Mexico

When I purchased this movie there was a synopsis printed on the back of the video box. After reading it, I was disappointed to get an obvious spoiler. But I watched the movie anyway, and found the synopsis to be only somewhat correct. I suspect the reviewer was not paying attention?

So, without spoilers, here is my review: This story concerns a very wealthy family living in Mexico in the middle of the 19th century. While out hunting in the woods one day, the father discovers a young black orphan by the river. He brings the boy back to his large estate and names him Gaspar. Friendly and intelligent, the boy quickly becomes a new family member. He runs around and plays with their two young daughters as if they were his own sisters.

In a separate storyline, this family throws lavish dinner parties. One of their favorite dishes is mushrooms cooked with an old family recipe from Spain. How does the family know if the current batch of picked mushrooms is edible? Simple! They get a volunteer to eat a few first. If the volunteer keels over and dies, then the family does not serve mushrooms later at the party.

The family has one other flirtation with danger: They keep a vicious black panther chained up in the main courtyard. On occasion he is freed and chases after people. For all their seeming sophistication and nobility, this family seems a little wacky to me!

Some years pass, and Gaspar grows up to be a handsome young man, and the daughters become beautiful women. They continue to go on outings to the woods and swim in the river. But what had formerly been child's play has become flirtatious. Along the way, Gaspar reveals knowledge of different species of mushrooms growing in the woods.

The family unit unravels as the daughters grow jealous for Gaspar's attentions and the parents become unhappy seeing their white daughters spending time with a black man. Family members scheme against each other...