Colegas

Colegas is a 1982 Spanish film written and directed by Eloy de la Iglesia and starring José Luis Manzano, Antonio Flores and Rosario Flores. The plot follows the misadventures of two young friends who are forced into street hustling and ever-expanding life of crime when one impregnates the sister of the other and they need to get the money to pay for her to have an abortion. Made with a low budget and no professional actors, Colegas was reviled by critics but it was a commercial success. It is considered one of the classics of the quinqui film genre. Plot José is an unemployed eighteen-year-old living with his parents and four siblings in a cramped apartment in the slums of Madrid. Marginalized by poverty and with no prospects of finding a job, José spends his time with his best friend Antonio in a video arcade, smoking pot or in a fruitless search of work. When he is not with his pals (colegas in Spanish) José is with his girlfriend Rosario, who is Antonio’s sister. The situation in both families is grim. José has to share a small bedroom with his two hormone crazy younger brothers, while Antonio and Rosario have to deal with their irascible mother, Herminia. Things get more complicated when Rosario finds out she is pregnant. After revealing the news to the worried José, he tells what is going on to Antonio. Angry and disappointed with José for impregnating his sister the two best friends have a fist fight, but quickly regained their composure and reconcile. They are determined to help Rosario who is not sure if she is going to have the baby or not. Rosario makes inquires with some friends finding a nurse who can perform an illegal abortion, but she needs eight thousand pesetas to pay for it. Unable to find a job, but desperate to raise the money needed as soon as possible Antonio and Jose accept the proposal of another pal, el tatuado, to get the money hustling in a gay bathhouse. At the steaming room el tatuado introduces them to two old gay men who offered them money in exchange for sex. They accept, but at the last minute neither Jose nor Antonio can get to the end and run away. With the hustling failure behind them Antonio and Jose try to rob a store but they are equally inept at it. Deep down, they are too good, naive and inexperience to be career criminals.