Urbane and reclusive desert casino owner and Holocaust survivor Sam Berg (Max Von Sydow) has powers of prediction bordering on the supernatural. His protégé, earthquake-survivor Federico (Eusebio Poncela), is so prodigiously lucky that he is employed to drain the good fortune of gamblers at the roulette tables. When Federico tries to break free of the casino he is cast out with the gift of luck violently removed.

Wanting revenge, he spends years discovering other people with the gift of luck, including bank robber and sole survivor of a plane crash, Tomas (Leonardo Sbaraglia). Federico tutors the initially sceptical Tomas for a face-off against Berg and they take part in illicit "luck tournaments" with other people who have evaded death or injury. Participants face increasingly dangerous dares to discover who is the most fortunate.

The many casualties of Federico’s dangerous games bring him to the attention of Sara (Mónica López), a cop who herself walked away unscathed from a tragic car accident. Sara tries to infiltrate the tournaments, but is drawn in.

DID YOU KNOW?
	The nine-year-old Fresnadillo witnessed the aftermath of history's worst plane disaster in the Canary Islands in 1977   The English language re-make rights have been sold - so watch this space

Unfolding in a series of imaginative set-pieces, the film manages to keep the viewer entertained and intrigued with its surreal logic. In one of the most striking scenes the competitors sprint through dense forest, blindfolded, hands bound behind their backs.

Writer and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo handles the intricately-constructed plot and immaculately-staged action scenes with confidence and gives the film an unnerving atmosphere. In the pivotal role, Von Sydow (Minority Report, The Exorcist) is outstanding.

Intacto plays with ideas of survivor's guilt and providence: that an excess of luck is the reward for a loss of love. These psychological and philosophical questions are suggested rather than grappled with, but you will be thinking about them long after the dénouement of this strangely compelling film.