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With good character development and insights into human nature, this well-wrought drama is the first independently directed film by Luis Alcoriza who as a screenwriter, collaborated with Luis Buñuel. Set in a small village with strong local traditions, the story revolves around the dilemma of a devoted father whose son is in desperate need of medicine. The father is much too poor to buy the medicine himself, and so he goes against all his scruples and steals a pearl from the crown of a statue in the church. Unfortunately, he is caught but cannot come up with the pearl because it is lost. Rather than see the good man punished simply because he wanted to help his seriously ill son, the rest of the villagers clamor for his release, and for the priest's forgiveness.