Box 507 (2002)

Too much of everything

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The first must-see film of the year.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Thrilling as well as gripping Spanish film about a Bank clerk and an ex-police delinquent . It is one of the best noir cinema that have been made in Spain, is a fast paced thriller that keeps you in suspense and interested from start to finish ; being masterfully directed and performed by all actors, especially Coronado and Resines . Dealing with a burned-out bank director called Pardo (Antonio Resines) whose daughter (Dafne Fernandez) dies in an forest fire while camping with her boyfriend . 7 years later , his bank gets robbed and robbers break several safe deposit boxes . During the robbery Pardo is locked and by mistake looks at one of the boxes and comes across some sheets that prove his daughter's death not to be an accident but killing . Pardo swears to take vengeance on all those involved in the murder but he doesn't know that documents belong to a nasty powerful mob boss and his hoodlum , an ex-police (Jose Coronado) who mistreats his wife (Goya Toledo) , and they will stop at nothing to get them . The bank manager attempts to discover clues but in the process , he uncovers a twisted string of corruption in Sun Coast and Italian Mafia with unexpected consequences .This is an exciting picture plenty of intrigue , killings , twists and turns . From start to finish action-packed , fast-paced , thrills , emotion and suspense is continuous . Interesting and moving screenplay by Miguel Gaztambide and the same filmmaker . It is one of the best noir film that have been realized in Spain , it is a thriller that keeps you interested and expecting . Antonio Resines , José Coronado , Goya Toledo star in the sort of story we've seen many times before - a corrupt ex-police and a stubborn family man - but it is always fun when is executed with style and Urbizu certainly seems to have that . The cast gets credible and nuanced performances that enrich the flick . This film grabs our attention , beginning with a really brutal and masterful performance by Jose Coronado . Jose Coronado is simply awesome , he steals the show as a veteran and violent ex-police with dark secrets . An interpretation similar to subsequent ¨No peace for the wicked¨ in which he won a Goya award also playing a violent police . And of course , the great Antonio Resines plays as Bank manager Modesto Pardos who stumbles across some very strange documents ; Resines is simply superb, to be able to make a character icon in the figure of an obstinate clerk . Furthermore , a good support cast such as Goya Toledo , Dafne Fernandez , Juan Fernandez , Hector Colome and Sancho Gracia , a veteran actor working from the sixties and recently deceased . The movie packs a colorful and brilliant cinematography by Carlos Gusi who ha photographed successes such as ¨Torrente, the dumb arm of the law¨, ¨Juan De Los Muertos¨ , ¨Take my eyes¨ and particularly ¨Cell 211¨ . And being filmed on location in Toledo , Algeciras , Linea de Concepcion , Cadiz , Torremolinos , Malaga and Tangiers , Morocco . Suspenseful and thrilling musical score by Mario De Benito , a fine composer expert on sinister and mysterious atmospheres as proved in ¨The witch affair ¨, ¨Rigor Mortis¨ , ¨Al Limite¨, ¨A Ciegas¨ , among others . The film was well produced by Fernando Bovaira , one of the best Spanish producers , financing a lot of films in lavish budgets such as ¨The others¨ , ¨The sea inside¨ , ¨Agora¨ , ¨Mortadelo and Filemon¨, ¨Butterfly tongue¨ , among others . The motion picture titled Box 507 or Caja 507 was professionally directed by Enrique Urbizu and won various Goya awards . He is a specialist on Thriller as proved in ¨Todo Por la Pasta¨, ¨Cachito¨ , ¨La Vida Mancha¨ this ¨Caja 507¨ and on comedy such as ¨Cuernos Mujer¨, ¨Como Ser Infeliz¨ and ¨Tu Novia esta Loca¨ but especially Urbizu is the director of No Peace For The Wicked (No Habra Paz Para Los Malvados), an upcoming 'tough cop with big gun' movie coming out of Spain , this is his best film surpassing even "La Caja 507" .

Things start to roll from a tragedy seven years ago. A daughter of banker Modesto Pardo (Antonio Resines) dies in a forest fire. Years later he still hasn't gotten rid of the grief, so when his bank is heisted and he's left tied up in the vault, he gets intrigued by a bunch of papers fallen out from one of the deposit boxes: they contain a map of the area his daughter died and bank notes and account numbers. He figures out, that the death of his might not have been an accident, but a result of a deliberately started fire to get the land out from no building restriction.La Caja 507 is well written thriller, that keeps you intrigued to the end. Resines does a great job with very low key portrayal of a man, who is in the beginning living in an auto drive. He doesn't over act his grief, but you notice the sadness within.IF you've seen only American crime movies, La Caja 507 is quite a different kind of a film. There's no exaggerated emotions or over blown vengeance plots via huge explosions. Modesto brings out his revenge by making the crooks attacking themselves. He never touches a gun himself, he just gives them enough rope, so that they can hang themselves.

A thriller with a finely carried plot that keeps the viewer's interest alive throughout, no mean feat, yet not the kind of plot one expects from mainstream Spanish films (or even European ones, the plot would more than suitably fit a Humphrey Bogart-starred American movie). To me, the main flaw is the main character's (portrayed by the customarily excellent Antonio Resines) moral inconsistency. He starts his crusade out of outrage for hitting by chance on the real cause of his teenage daughter's death, but ends up being no better than the thugs he seeks to punish by accepting money from them in order to keep his mouth shut. It may be argued that he does so in order to secure not being killed by the gangsters in question but to me that in turn begs question and shows him as being no better than them. The high morals that the scriptwriters lead you to believe at first as the main propeller in the man's behaviour, by the end of the film have just vanished into thin air!

Spoilers alert: there is no way to state the plot of this movie without at least one spoiler, so you can either watch it for the first time without reading this (which I recommend), or read on anyway.Antonio Resines stars as the father of a girl who he had thought died in an accidental forest fire. Once he wakes up (alone) after he is locked in the safety-deposit vault of his bank after being bound and drugged, he accidentally sees some documents. These documents reveal to him, the manager of the bank whose safety-deposit boxes were robbed, that the fire was caused to bring down property values due to the stigma of a young girl dying there.So, he ties loose ends, and sets out for justice against all that were involved in the nasty plot. Oh, in case you read on without having seen the movie I have good news: I left enough out for you to watch and enjoy thoroughly.A well-directed and acted movie, it is a prime example of the sort of quality film Spain produces on a regular basis. So, I obviously recommend it.