The Pawnbroker (1964)

Second viewing; first viewing with the original audio; previously viewed on November 20, 1988.

Sol is a pawnbroker in Harlem whose shop is used as a money laundry front for Rodríguez, a local gangster. Sol treats his assistant Jesús coldly. Some local hoodlums besiege ambitious Jesús to help them rob the shop's safe. Sol has flashes of his suffering past life in Germany. A social worker woman wants to befriend Sol. Sol's customers are very peculiar people whom he treats coldly. Sol has second thoughts about his association with Rodríguez.

This is not as interesting as I perceived it to be on my first viewing. It's hard to know what the film's point is, ultimately. Christopher Mulrooney claims it is a Christian allegory where Jesús stands for Jesus. I, on the other hand, think it has some points in common with Marx's The Jewish Question. On a more down-to-earth analysis, the Nazis were bad to this guy, so he viewed the people who fought the Nazis (and made him a citizen of their country) as just as bad? Weird logic. But overall it is mildly interesting for some ideas it generates, and for the depiction of a social environment, even though the main character is a little implausible. The cinematography produces some dazzling imagery, though, and the filming technique is quite impressive, too.

Rating: 56 (down from 74)