Wild Tales

Must Go — Spoilers
The Spanish title is more apt: Savage Tales. Six short stories show various ways in which savagery persists in the highest levels of civilization. In brief; an excellent movie that deserves to be seen by people with a brain and a will to think.

1. In the pre-credit tale, the pilot turns out to be a lifelong failure that has collected the various teachers, friends, psychiatrist, who has thwarted him, on a flight he will crash into his parents. (With apologies to the Germanwing crash. This was made well in advance of that tragedy)

2. In a diner the waitress recognizes a customer as the small-town gangster who drove her father into bankruptcy and suicide. Now running for mayor, he is rude and abusive. As her anger and conscience struggle the cook takes over and kills him. She’s content to return to the security and comfort of jail.

3. An Audi driver rages at a redneck that blocks his way. When the rich guy stops to fix a flat tire his nemesis stops and assaults him. The road rage turns into class warfare. Ironically, when they’re found burned alive their clutch suggests it was a crime of passion.

4. When an explosives expert gets his car towed for an unjustified parking ticket his angry campaign for justice blows up his marriage, job, and career and even shared custody of his daughter. When he blows up the towing yard he becomes a local hero, Mr. Dynamite. In jail his wife and daughter bring him a birthday cake and all the inmates and guards celebrate his day. His last act is blowing out the candles. Terrorism works.

5. A spoiled teenager’s fatal hit and run accident leads to a steadily expanding chain of corruption as his wealthy father tries to get the family groundskeeper to take the rap for him. As the bribery balloons no-one is innocent. Even the humble groundskeeper raises his demands. When the father decides not to pay to save his spoiled son, his lawyer says it would be dishonorable for him to renege on his bribery of the public prosecutor. When the boy decides to confess the greedy renegotiate their scheme. As the fall guy is led away an angry citizen kills him. Amid all the bribes and false honor the poor worker pays the price.

6. In the climax, a rich Jewish family’s wedding, the bride explodes after the groom admits he had sex with a colleague who’s a guest. The demure bride turns into a vengeful virago wreaking massive destruction, reducing the groom to tears, the ceremony to chaos, and her rival to a bloodied mess. When the newlyweds reconnect — making passionate love amid the ruins of the cake — their union feels more honest than the initial smiles and formality. Now their union expresses more passion than manners. The chaotic wedding is more honest than the ceremonial ritual was.

This is one of best movies I have seen. Six short non connected films. It is in subtitles but they are short. Most of this review was lifted from IMDb. You will not regret the 2 hours of this film; you won’t even realize that it is that long.