This movie is more than a chain of punch lines guided by some anarchist spirit. Yes, it certainly does some heavy criticism on almost every Spanish institution, but it also criticizes the rather absurd passion with which several societies (or countries if you want) built on the whole Y2K fever . The movie takes place precisely around that date and it provides a clever, acid, and up to a certain extent prophetic portray of the whole hysteria around the Y2K (it was filmed in 1999). The rather obsessive references to the corruption phenomenon in Spain and Europe are exaggerated but they reflect on different levels the way Spain found itself after all the corruption scandals of the last years of Felipe González as Prime Minister (Presidente de Gobierno). Yes, the jokes, the punch lines are all there. Some of them are rather offensive or plainly unbelievable, like the scene where the rebel nun fight s to "consecrate" a giant Paella, as if Catholics ever consecrate food (we can bless it, but we will hardly ever think about consecrating it, much less about "consecrating" it with holy water), but it depicts nicely the unfair position of nuns within the Church when compared to priests. The movie is fun and it provides a good insight on the many paradoxes of contemporary Spain and, for that purpose, of any contemporary society.
Review of París Tombuctú
