Matías (Carlos de Gabriel) is a is a soccer referee , a linesman whose sense of justice , honesty is beyond any doubt . In the last minute of the game he has no choice and marks a penalty . Unfailing honesty makes him worthy of an attempted lynching for whistling a penalty in a match that means the elimination of the Spanish team from the World Cup. His only chance of escape is San Amancio, a small town on the Galician coast . He hides in the village of his father Pellejo (Ramón Barea) which he hasn't visited since his childhood and whose inhabitants are dedicated exclusively to the smuggling of "Liquor del santo". Alli Pellejo sees the arrival of his son as the opportunity to assert himself before his countrymen . He manages to get the Line Judge to be taken as a true Judge , but then Matías's problems have only just begun. The villagers have belief that he can put them all in jail for smuggling "Liquor del Santo", means of subsistence for all the people . Smuggling is carried out through coffins. The "Licor del Santo" is taken from the ship to the church in coffins to later distribute it through other churches in the country. The locals gathered as many bottles as they could, before the proper authorities arrive . But two Civil Guardias stand in their way .
Outlandish feature second film by two good screenwriters , Luis Gudiri and Santiago Aguilar , nicknamed ¨La Cuadrilla¨ , here they make a fun comedy with northern habits , smuggling , confusion and mayhem . It blends comedy , slight drama , rural conventionality , social habits , criticism and ¨Esperpento¨. Made in budget enough and in brilliant colour and a peculiar plot following the Spanish tradition . It is a piece of absurdity and nonsense , full of comical as well as attractive situations . Directors Santiago Aguilar, Luis Guridi , the two components of the ¨Cuadrilla¨, subsequent screenwriters of the successful ¨Cámara Café¨ series , here directing their second feature film belonging to what they called the trilogy of ¨España Por La Puerta De atrás¨ formed by ¨Justino , Un asesino de la Tercera Edad¨, ¨Matias , Juez de Linea ¨and ¨Atilano Presidente¨. A look at the most grotesque Spain in the vein of classic maestro Luís Garcia Berlanga, without forgetting the references to comedies such as "Whisky Galore" from the famous British Ealing factory. A simple and plain script starred by the offbeat and geeky Matias , a self-destructive referee who whistles a clear penalty at the last minute in favor of Finland which gives victory to the Finns and the Spanish fans cry out for revenge , it forces Matías to flee to the little town where his father still lives . There are some very amusing scenes such as two of the villagers, before the arrival of a larger shipment, expel a dead man from his habitat , the coffin , in order to have more room to carry the liquor , something similar to what Peter Lorre and Vincent Price did in The Comedy of Terrors ( 1964) by Jacques Tourneur . As this ¨Matias Juez de linea¨ takes ideas from other films as the British ¨Captain Clegg¨ (La Patrulla Fantasma-1962) de Peter Graham Scott , ¨Whiskey Galore !¨ (1949) by Alexander Mackendrick that was remade as ¨Whiskey Galore !¨(2016) by Gillies MacKinnon and ¨Comedy of Terrors¨. Main and support cast are pretty good . Stars the unknown Carlos de Gabriel who plays competently El juez de línea Matías , a soccer referee who's promised his dying mother never to lie and costars Ramón Barea as his always drunk father . Along with a lot of sympathetic characters played by familar faces , such as ¨Manuel Manquiña as peculiar priest Don Aurelio , Alicia Sánchez as 'La Patrona' , Álex Angulo , Antonio Durán 'Morris' , Charly Bravo , Marta Fernández Muro , Enrique Villén , Fernando Vivanco , Saturnino García who starred ¨Justino¨ and brief cameo by Santiago Segura.
It contains colorful and evocative cinematography by great cinematographer Flavio Martínez Labiano , considered to be one of the best Spanish cameramen , he photographed successes as "The Day of the Beast" , ¨800 bullets¨ , "Timecrimes" and subsequently working in Hollywood , including box-office movies as ¨Bones¨ , ¨Non-stop¨ , ¨Unknown¨ , ¨The gunman¨ and ¨Shallows¨. Being filmed on location in Lugo , Galicia, Picón, A Coruña, Ortigueira, A Coruña, Galicia, and Madrid . Likewise , a charming and catching soundtrack by José Carlos Mac , including Galician music . This offbeat motion picture was decent though strangely directed by Luis Gudiri and Santiago Aguilar in budget enough , while their first one , ¨Justino¨being financed by crowdfunding and an amount of money delivered by Canal Plus . Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable . Well worth watching for Spanish cinema buffs ,
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