El Detective y la Muerte on AllMovie

This surreal Spanish film offers a liberal re-tooling of Hans Christian Andersens' tale "The Story of the Mother," which follows a mother's quest through a maze-like forest as she seeks to retrieve her child from Death. This version of the tale is set in a violent and crime filled European city. It is run by a powerful business man called Grande Mierda, or GM for short. GM determines the life and death of the city's people. But while he may control the fate of others, GM cannot control his own impending death. From his deathbed, he agrees to grant his daughter, Laura, her fondest birthday wish. He will have her estranged mother murdered. To find her, GM engages the Detective. The rebellious Detective is unlikely to kill the wayward mother and so GM engages the evil Dark Man to follow him. In his search, the Detective meets a sad mother with a sick baby. She follows him, believing that the Detective can lead her to GM whom she wishes to bargain with for her son's life.