Twenty-five years ago, Santiago Segura’s comedy, winner of two Goya Awards, premiered Torrente, the left hands of the law His movie. For the 1998 film, screenwriter, director and protagonist Segura made four sequels (the last of which was released in 2014) and Torrente’s films became popular not only in Spain, but also in Hungary – we can say: cult films. We looked into why Hungarians love Torrente movies so much.
José Luis Torrente, played by writer-director Santiago Segura, is actually a good-for-nothing, jerk, drunk, sexist, racist ex-policeman who tries to get ahead in life in a way that disrespects the law in every film. And of course it always ends up on his face. Torrente is undoubtedly an apt character study: Segura at least tried to condense all existing and everyday human baseness into one character.
At the same time, Torrente’s films were only able to compete with Hollywood films in his native Spain and Argentina, as well as in Hungary.
According to film expert Victor Dudas, Torrente’s films could be very popular in Hungary because the dubbing of the films was a great success, especially because of Imre Csuga, who lent Segura’s voice.
Torrent films are an exception, such as films by Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, which are not as successful even in Italy as they are here and in Germany. The secret of success and popularity lies largely in excellent synchronization. In other words, adequate translation, always adapting the original situations slightly to the Hungarian folk spirit, accompanied by distinctive and well-chosen dubbing actors. But we can also mention the animated series Frédi és Béni, it does not exceed a dozen cartoons in its native country, in the United States, but in Hungary it has become a huge cult due to Joseph Romani’s imaginative translation into rhymes -Victor Dudas brushes.
Adding that synchronicity has become a slogan for “righteous” statements that are not only considered politically correct, but also not known from good moral news, such as “Noko is a mess“, “It’s not enough that they are whores, you also have to pay for them” or “What, you don’t like cottage cheese?” ” – Of course, that won’t be enough to gain popularity. He exposes and appropriately mocks his groping.
When Segura visited Hungary 10 years ago, he said the idea for Torrente’s character was born in his mind during an incident in a restaurant: A man resembling the ugly character he portrayed entered the Chinese restaurant where he was having lunch, so he could. He witnessed this with his own eyes and ears as the “real Torrente” began to humiliate the Chinese waitress serving him with various insults, making comments about her origin and gender. Although Segura felt ashamed of the man, he couldn’t help but laugh. In other words, Torrente’s films were born out of an initial realization that jolts could be a source of humor (he later included the Chinese restaurant scene in Torrente’s first film).
According to Victor Dudas, Segura holds up a crooked mirror to inappropriate behavior almost as an artistic demand. In addition, in all four Torrente films, he bases the plot on typical Hollywood films that are well recognizable, that is, rooted in the public consciousness as a model – and this also contributed to the success.
If you look closely, Torrente’s first film, Torrente, The Left Hand of the Law, builds and depicts the twists and turns of typical American action films, in the same way, in the second film, The Marbella Mission, we can recognize the situations of Bond films, in Torrente – The Defender were films Bodyguards such as More Than a Bodyguard, Escape to Victory in Part 4, and Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s films served as inspiration for Part 5. So Segura very skillfully “Torrentized”, that is, he adapted the typical genres and clichés of the American mass film to the Spanish popular spirit – says Victor Dudas, who believes that Torrente’s films can also act as a valve to some extent. It is clear that Segura did not want to hold up a crooked mirror in front of the Spaniards, but in front of the bad habits of man, and fortunately after the film, self-reflection matures in the viewer, and he has lived and experienced the weaknesses that are a little characteristic of everyone through him. movies, he doesn’t want to be like Torrente at all.
However, Torrente’s films carry an important message. This character is cunning to the core, this small character in the movies becomes big in an instant, but the desired success is always short-lived. If we think about it more, there is also a hint in this that a small person who does not adhere to the standards, cannot be successful, but if we accept and follow the social rules of the game, we can lead to something. It is a timeless message. The important aspect is that no matter what happens, Torrente’s films stand with ordinary people. This also makes them likable, even if their artistic merit is low – Film expert provides more evidence about the popularity of Torrente’s films in Hungary.
