El hombre de los hongos

El hombre de los hongos
Directed by Roberto Gavaldon
Written by Sergio Galindo
Roberto Gavaldón
Tito Davison
Starring Adolfo Marsillach
Isela Vega
Philip Michael Thomas
Sandra Mozarowsky
Music by Raul Lavista
Cinematography Miguel Araña
Raul Perez Cubero
Distributed by CONACINE
Release dates
  • 2 September 1976
Running time
 110 minutes
Country Mexico
Language Spanish

El hombre de los hongos (English: The Man of the Mushrooms) is a 1976 Mexican drama film based on the novel of the same name by Sergio Galindo.

Synopsis

The story unfolds in a family of landowners from the colonial era, which owns a sugar plantation on the edge of the jungle. While hunting in the forest one day, the father, Don Everardo, discovers a young black orphan by the river. He leads the child to his great farm and call him Gaspar. Friendly and intelligent, the boy quickly becomes a new member of the family. He plays with his son, Sebastian and his two daughters, Emma and Lucilla, as if they were his own sisters. In a separate story, this family takes fine dining. One of his favorite mushroom dishes are prepared with an old family recipe from Spain. The family discovers if the mushroom is edible collected getting a volunteer to eat a few first. If voluntary collapses and dies, then the family does not serve mushrooms in the party.

The family has another flirtation with danger: They keep a black panther called Toy chained in the main courtyard. From time to time it is released and chases people.

Some years pass, and Gaspar grows into a handsome young man, and daughters become beautiful women. They go into the woods hiking and swimming in the river. But the play of children has become flirtations, especially among young Gaspar and Emma. Along the way, Gaspar reveals his knowledge of different species of fungi that grow in the forest.

The family unit falls apart when Emma and her mother, Elvira, compete for the attentions of Gaspar. Elvira's flirtations with Gaspar provoke the jealousy of Emma, who leverages existing hostlidad between Elvira and the Panther Toy to get rid of her mother.

This situation adds a strange incestuous relationship between Sebastian and Lucila, older siblings. When Don Everardo discovers the affair of his daughter with the black servant Gaspar, he decides to make him his new "man of the mushrooms". But no one has the knowledge of Gaspar on mushrooms, and a lavish party at the farm will become a circus when Emma and Gaspar advantage the mushrooms to get rid of his own family and escape together.

Cast

External links