The Spanish Prisoner was one of those films where I had the feeling they were trying just a little too hard to be tricky (not as bad as Basic Instinct of course). Had they done with one less twist, I believe I would have felt slightly less manipulated than I did by the end. Nonetheless, it was good, and the tension that's created at the beginning of the film gripped me throughout. I also enjoyed the retro-ish feel it had. The sets, especially the office where Joe (the main character) worked looked like something out of the 50's, and Joe kept all his work in a notebook; one notebook which would bring his company riches. How quaint.
The timely thing about my viewing of the Spanish Prisoner was the themes it dealt with, especially trust. Joe was a very honest and trusting soul and his honesty and trust got him into quite a bit of (slightly unrealistic) trouble. I've been struggling with trust issues for awhile now, questioning why I put my faith in people, why I assume people are always good, benevolent, looking out for others, etc. (Turns out they're not, but I bet you already knew this, right?) And I kept thinking, after the end of the movie, about what happens to a truster after such betrayals. I kept thinking, will Joe ever trust again? And thinking about some personal stuff I'm going through I wondered, will I?