After the death of their mother, the honorable Mendoza family has been ruined. The father, Don Carlos (Jesús Tordesillas) , plays cards with money he does not have. The eldest son whom everyone calls Balarrasa (Fernando Fernán Gómez) is a womanizer and his brother Fernando (Luis Prendes) is dedicated to trade currency with the swindler Mario Santos (Eduardo Fajardo) , lover of his sister Lina (Dina Stein), while the youngest sister(Maria Rosa Salgado) has left her boyfriend Ocatavio (José Maria Rodero) , a serious high school professor, for an athletic tennis player. During the Spanish Civil War, Lieutenant Balarrasa plays a night watch with his partner Javier (Mario Berriatua) , and then an enemy soldier kill him in his place. This impresses him so much that once the war is over, Balarrasa abandons his military career and enters the Pontifical Seminary of Salamanca to become a missionary, but before receiving Major Orders, his hierarchical superior advises him to go to Madrid to confront his past. . There he discovers the degradation that his family has got resulting in unexpected and tragic consequences.
An agreeable flick showing a sour social denounce adding the typical message , as it results to be a spiritual film and full of good feeling , touching sacrifice and dramatic relationship among family members .Narrated through a long flashback by the missionary Javier Mendoza/Fernando Fernán Gómez in the middle of a snow storm in Alaska, it is one of the great successes of post-war Spanish cinema for mixing with some skill a war story with a religious one within a serial style that contains a strong moralizing charge. Its success conditions the existence of politically religious cinema written and produced by Vicente Escrivá and directed by Rafael Gil during the first half of the fifties. In the movie stands out a great main and support cast with plenty of familiar faces giving acceptable interpretations , such as : María Rosa Salgado , Dina Sten , Luis Prendes, Eduardo Fajardo, Jesús Tordesillas, Maruchi Fresno , Mario Berriatúa, José María Rodero , Julia Caba Alba, Gérard Tichy, Francisco Bernal , Felix Dafauce , Manolo Morán, José Bódalo , among others.
The movie was made with some skill by José Antonio Nieves Conde , although this is far from the cinema that most interests him and far from his best movies , despite having a certain criticism of a dissolute bourgeoisie . Two directors of photography work in the film because due to financial problems, Manuel Berenquer cannot shoot the scenes in the Salamanca seminar that Jose F. Aguayo does . Packing an evocative and atmospheric cinematography in black and white that would not improve in color. This is an acceptable film with fine sets by Pierre Schild ; and well directed by Jose Antonio Nieves Conde , a director of great quality and with penchant for social denounce . His films debuts were three crime drama : ¨Senda Ignorada¨, ¨Angustia¨ and ¨LLegada De Noche¨. He went on to direct a successful religious movie : ¨Balarrasa¨. He's expert in filming all kinds of genres , as thought-provoking and brooding dramas : ¨Surcos¨ , ¨El Inquilino¨ ; religious cinema : ¨Balarrasa¨, ¨Cotolay¨ ; passionate story : ¨Casa Manchada¨ , ¨Mas Alla del Deseo¨ , ¨Marta¨ , ¨Historia una Traicion¨ ; Comedy : ¨Don Lucio and Hermano Pio¨ , ¨Prohibido Enamorarse¨ , an anti-communist movie : ¨Legion del Silencio¨ ,; anthology picture as the co-production : ¨Jack El Negro¨ and even Terror : ¨Sounds of horror¨ . Rating : 6/10 . Nice film , well worth watching , because being plenty of luminous sensibility , solidarity ,redemption , faith , cooperation and good feeling .
