Product Details

• Actors: Guillermo Toledo, Marian Aguilera, María Botto, Fernando Ramallo, Norma Aleandro
• Directors: Dominic Harari, Teresa Pelegri
• Writers: Dominic Harari, Teresa Pelegri
• Producers: Adrian Sturges, Ariel Saúl, Gerardo Herrero, Javier López Blanco
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Magnolia
• DVD Release Date: October 17, 2006
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000HEWERQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,221 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Only Human" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

ONLY HUMAN - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Human Behavior, October 31, 2006

By 

Brendan M. Howard (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Only Human (DVD)

Only Human is a Spanish-language Meet the Parents that has the courage to go for Royal Tenenbaums weirdness and higher stakes instead of routine setups and gags.

In Only Human, the nervous fiancé, Rafi, is caught in a variety of compromising positions as he meets his soon-to-be family for the first time, but the tension is based in reality. Rafi is Palestinian, and his fiancée, Leni, is Jewish. When blind grandpa swings his old Israeli army rifle around the room, Rafi has legitimate reason to be fearful if grandpa finds out he's a Muslim. When Rafi accidentally drops a block of frozen soup out the window, it might be his lover's dad he snuffed out on the sidewalk below. Only the lightness of the film, the believable reactions of the characters and the understandable craziness of the Jewish Spanish family keep these moments from becoming nerve-racking.

Audiences will believe mom's changing emotions, dad's heck of a concussion, Rafi's palpable nervousness, and the sibling rivalry between Leni and her prettier sister that blooms into a fight of break-up proportions by film's end. Audiences will believe Leni's newly religious brother would put a duck in the toilet.

Only Human is only held back from great success on DVD because it's not in English. Here's hoping audiences will give subtitles a chance for this one.

DVD Extras: None.

-- Brendan Howard

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only Hilarious!, October 21, 2006

By 

Blue Coronet (east coast) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Only Human (DVD)

I saw Only Human at the local independent cinema, thinking it might be amusing. Turns out it is a very funny Spanish film and I laughed so much, I had tears coming out of my eyes at times. The plot involves a daughter bringing her boyfriend/fiance home to meet her Jewish/Spanish family for the first time. If you crossed Charlie Chaplin & Lena Wertmueller and asked them to write a film about a Spanish-Jewish family, this is what you might get. One of the funniest films I've seen in years. Check it out!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Can't We All Just Get Along!", March 28, 2007

By 

B. Merritt "filmreviewstew.com" (WWW.FILMREVIEWSTEW.COM, Pacific Grove, California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Only Human (DVD)

ONLY HUMAN explores prejudice, but not on a worldly scale. Instead it focuses on one family and how their past and present attitudes may eventually spell out their futures. And it's damn funny.

Dealing with the Palestinian/Israeli equation is touchy at the best of times, but laughing at it is something most probably don't even think about.

When an Israeli Jew brings home her fiancé, it's usually a time for celebration. So when Leni (Marian Aguilera, THE RECKONING), the daughter of a nice Jewish family, brings home her future husband, one would think it'll spark smiles and joy. But Leni's man Rafi (Guillermo Toledo) shows up on her parents' doorstep with her and we immediately know there are going to be ...uh ...problems. He's a Palestinian and he's ducking into the den of a practicing Jewish family.

Usually this type of set up would spark dramatic elements but here we're given a hilarious take on one family and how they come to grips with their daughter's choice. Not only that, but Rafi has to come to terms with an accident that may have killed Leni's father.

Getting ready for dinner, Rafi is introduced to this rather wacky family. There's the nymphomaniac sister, a blind, gun-toting grandfather, the overly-religious brother, and the protective mother. Leni's father is supposed to show up for the dinner but is late for some reason. Leni's younger sister (the nympho) believes their father is having an affair, but only Rafi really knows what may have happened to him. While taking the evening's soup out of the freezer, Rafi accidentally drops it out the kitchen window, and the frozen block falls several stories before landing on someone's head; Leni's dad? No. It couldn't be, could it? Now another Palestinian has possibly killed a Jew, this time with a new weapon!

Rafi and Leni must contend with their own inherent prejudices while trying to save their future, and prevent the evening from disintegrating into a quagmire of misunderstandings.

The comedy is both in the dialogue and physical. Rafi tries to find out what's happening to the man below who's head was bashed by the frozen soup. He goes into the bathroom and peers out its window. In the meantime, Leni's grandfather (blind) lumbers in to take a pee, and Rafi gets into an unusual position on the toilet in order to avoid being discovered by Grandpa.

This is a refreshing story that brings high marks for comedy into a realm not normally reserved for such things. The only downside is that the dialogue is sometimes rapid and for those who don't speak Spanish (the movie was shot in Spain), it's often times difficult to read the subtitles and keep up with the action onscreen. Otherwise this is an excellent flick.