A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Although Marquez was involved in the production of this cinematic adaptation of his story, this is a work of Birri, which all the other reviewers on this board seem to miss. Of the harsh reviews of this film posted, only one of them actually sees the film for what it is, and they hate it for being what it is: a critique of imperialism via an experimental visual narrative.

If you're looking to teach your short story via this piece, you will fail and end up a frustrated lazy professor, and if you're looking for Hollywood mediocrity jacked up with special effects, go watch a Marvel movie, but if you want a story that will surprise you and question your views and ways of seeing, then you will find it here.

Let me put it this way: I hated this movie. For the first five minutes, I believed that the film was going to be interesting: During a storm, an angel washes up into two peoples backyard, and although a married couple take the angel in, the man decides to free him the next day. While the skepticism and curiosity from the neighbors would be a natural plot point, it soon turns to absolute shameless exhibitionism and cruel treatment of this supposed "divine messenger". This is only coupled with the fact that a carnival rolls into town. For well over an hour, all the viewer sees is the angel being tortured by spectators and his captors, and the gyrating "Spider-Woman". After a while, the angel is pretty much forgotten, substituted with "Spider-Woman" wiggling her hips and huge mob scenes. The last five minutes of the film, between the son and the angel is like the beginning: decent. However, the 80-90 minutes in between is pure trash, and I'm angry that I wasted two hours of my life on this film.

If this film is trying to say that there is no redemption in humanity, then it got its point across. While the angel manages to escape, I felt like there should have been some kind of retribution against these thoughtless, backwoods idiots.

With the angel being freed from his captors, so was I from this movie. I felt like I was being tortured right along with him, and was relieved when it ended.

Luis Buñuel might have enjoyed this antic fantasy, adapted from a story by Gabriel García Márquez, about an ignorant couple who find the title character (played by director Fernando Birri) washed ashore like driftwood on their crab-infested beach. Is he a fallen angel or simply a freak of nature? No one can say (the old man himself is apparently mute), but after giving him a home in their chicken pen rumors begin to spread of a miraculous visitation, and the unfortunate 'angel' soon becomes both an object of worship and a target of ridicule, sometimes simultaneously. Before too long he's the star attraction in a frenzied carnival midway, competing against the so-called Spider Woman (with her absurd, 'explanatory' semi-porn performance art video) and other sideshow curiosities. The more emotional national characteristics of each country in the Italian-Cuban-Spanish co-production team combine to make it a fast, crude parable of innocence corrupted, blurring the line between religious ecstasy and show-biz hysteria.

Although there is admittedly a non-Hollywood flavor to this movie--a cultural difference that will not be to everyone's taste--it's pretty faithful to Marquez's short story. Many of my students who read the story become nearly hostile about its cryptic, impenetrable refusal to make "logical" sense. The human characters behave abysmally; the angel is unreadable and ultimately undefined; the story is not so much a story as a long comment.

It has been said that the angel is actually a mask for Marquez himself. In that regard, this film is a fine reminder of the author's own resistance to categorization.

What would you do if you found a sick, decrepit angel in your backyard? "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" comments on faith and doubt as it explores the arrival of a winged old man who washes ashore into the lives of Pelayo and Elisenda. They put him first into a chicken coop(because of his wings), then on display and charge admission for the townspeople to see him. A doubting priest provides comic relief and pokes fun at the not easily convinced Catholic Church. The soundtrack is excellent. All fans of Garcia Marquez must not go another minute without seeing this movie.