Sunday, February 20, 2011

THE SPANISH PRISONER (1997)

“One thing my father taught me about business: always do business as if the person you’re doing business with is trying to screw you, because most likely they are and if they’re not, you can be pleasantly surprised.”

Joe Ross is smart, honest and dedicated employee working for big corporate honchos, the only problem with him is that he’s too nice for everything to everybody. His friendliness gesture to a mysterious stranger made him win friendship with a man powerful and rich enough to solve his personal problem. He didn’t know that this fabricated relation is a big trap that going to give him enough jolts including murder charges and there’s only one woman on whom he can rely to get out of this mess- his personal secretary whose emotional advances and cautions he avoided from long.

Written and directed by David Mamet, one of the gifted and brilliant script writers who knows damn well how to tell a story so cleverly, diverting our attention in twists and turns of lies and a big trap. He shows you the cards but not the game. Clues and hints are offered to Ross in form of his friends and characters; mind well they’re not to reveal the secret but to make it more intriguing. However I feel somewhat feel duped by the time film shows denouement of mystery and that’s the only one big loophole of this otherwise well made thriller/mystery. Mamet wrote some of the finest quotable lines in this film and they keep flowing along with absolutely thrilling drama that holds you to your seat. Here’re few rushes-
“Worry is like interest paid in advance on a debt that never comes true.”
“Beware of all enterprises which require new clothes.”


Recommended to all thriller fans.

Ratings-7.5/10

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