The Rocket from Calabuch

In one of Luis García Berlanga’s gentlest comedies, an aging American scientist (Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn) goes incognito, trading in his career as a prominent atomic-bomb expert for a tranquil retirement on the Mediterranean coast. While in hiding, he cultivates the persona of a friendly wanderer, finding companions among his neighbors and using his pyrotechnical expertise to create a dazzling fireworks display for the local fiesta. Where Berlanga’s most acclaimed films skewer the blinkered provincialism of village life, this heartfelt valentine to small-town Spain celebrates the friendships that hold such tight-knit communities together.