MADRID (dpa) – He is fat, balding, wears leopard-spotted jackets and gold chains on his hairy chest, and he picks his nose.
He also drinks, gambles, is constantly slapping people, tries to pick up women by making obscene gestures, cracks tasteless jokes and is a blatant racist.
Private detective Jose Luis Torrente, Spain’s most popular movie hero, is disgusting – and the public just loves him for it.
The first Torrente movie, “Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley” (the stupid arm of law) was Spain’s most successful movie of all times. It was seen by three million people and earned around 12 million dollars.
The second one, “Torrente 2: Mision en Marbella” (Mission in Marbella) is expected to become even more popular, and brought in more money on its first weekend in the cinemas than all the Spanish films together usually reap in a month.
“Some say it is a sharp social analysis and others, that it is just a big laugh, and I think both interpretations are correct,” says Madrid-born Santiago Segura, 35, the creator of Torrente who writes and directs the movies as well as stars in the main role.
Yet not everyone is happy with such quick explanations, and the country’s intelligentsia is scratching their heads to understand why anti-hero Torrente is beating Hollywood stars such as Russell Crowe or Anthony Hopkins at the box office.
In the first Torrente movie, the smelly police officer specialized in “inspecting” Madrid brothels, was sacked from the police force and waged a private battle against the Chinese mafia.
In the second movie, Torrente opens an office as a private detective in the luxury holiday resort of Marbella, names his dog Franco for love of Spain’s late right-wing dictator, and accidentally saves the city from destruction by a mad millionaire who intends to launch missiles on it.
The James Bond parody features a host of Spanish celebrities including top models Ines Sastre and Esther Canadas as well as tennis player Carlos Moya.
The repulsive figure of Torrente punctures Spain’s newly acquired, modern and cosmopolitan image, revealing the vulgar, macho and prejudiced stereotype of a Spaniard which still lurks in the collective unconscious, commentators say.
Others point out that Torrente resembles a traditional Spanish literary figure, that of the “picaro” or of the smart rogue, who dates from the Middle Ages.
Despite having all the imaginable vices, Torrente also has something touching about him. In his enthusiasm for his new dog or his wide-eyed infatuation with a beautiful singer, the tough detective resembles a little boy.
Torrente’s very stupidity often protects him, and he miraculously survives car crashes and murder attempts throughout “Mission in Marbella”, always landing on his feet.
The combination of parody, social analysis and of a tender touch allows Spaniards to laugh at themselves from a safe distance and without judging themselves too harshly, analysts said.
The moment the public grows tired of Torrente, he will be mercilessly killed off, Santiago Segura vows – but that day still seems far off.
