“The Good Patron”: to see or not to see the film with Javier Bardem on Star+? | REVIEW

The week in which he finds out that a commission from the Regional Government will visit his company to evaluate it in a business excellence contest, Julio Blanco (Javier Bardem), he sees how the main heads of his company, called Básculas Blanco, see their personal lives shaken.

In this last circumstance, any employer has two paths: intervene helping their employees to get out of the hole, or remain silent and watch them sink, perhaps harming the long-awaited labor productivity.

The point is that the protagonist of “El buen patrón”, as the most recent film by Javier Bardem is titled, which is now available on Star+is unable to remain indifferent to the problems of others.

Just at the beginning of the film, we see him intervening with his good offices before the Police to free a spoiled son of one of his oldest employees, involved in an almost criminal scandal.

The same thing happens when Miralles (Manolo Solo), the head of Production at Básculas Blanco, begins to show clear signs of distraction in the company after beginning to suspect that his wife is cheating on him with another man.

Because he needs a cohesive human group to win the Prize awarded by the Regional Government, because he is kind or simply because he has plenty of free time, Blanco ends up headlong into several other people’s messes in which he believes that, making use of his negotiation skills and his undeniable power, everything will end well.

But “The good boss” is not just a review of the colorful experiences of a boss trying to put out the personal fires of his workers. It is also a sharp and precise profile of a boss who is abusive at times, and at others is even capable of taking advantage of his power to take the new practitioner to bed (Liliana / Almudena Amor).

The first of these last two aspects is perhaps one of the most demanding of the interpreter Bardem. When a fired employee stands in front of the main door of the company to protest 24/7, he loses his temper, showing the worst side that a businessman can have.

Regarding the second aspect, although the practitioner gives her consent to go ahead with the relationship, it is clear that Blanco ignores the limits of ethics in the first place and tramples on any notion of fidelity with his wife (Adela/Sonia Almarcha) in the second. The twists that the plot gives to this particular case can certainly be forced, but in the final summary they serve.

Javier Bardem does not need to demonstrate his artistic ability. He is an established actor, perhaps one of the best of his generation. Merit to his undeniable virtues, he knew how to perform as well in Spain as in Hollywood. To show a recent example: his outstanding role as Desi Arnaz in “Being the Ricardo’s”, the successful Amazon Prime Video series starring Nicole Kidman.

Although it is not one of his most brilliant works, “El buen patrón” meets expectations. It is a current drama, but above all convincing about the limits that one is willing to break to achieve their goals: business or intimate.

To the desperation of seeing Blanco seeing how the situation with his employees at times gets out of hand, the film by Fernando León de Aranoa adds touches of black humor and social criticism that turn its 120-minute duration into an experience that it’s worth it.

THE GOOD PATRON- STAR PLUS

Address: Fernando Leon de Aranoa.

Cast: Javier Bardem, Manolo Solo, Almudena Amor and Oscar de la Fuente.

Duration: 120 minutes:

Synopsis: Waiting for the visit of a commission that can reward his company for excellence, the owner of a company that produces industrial scales, tries to quickly solve any problem of his workers.