I read a 1950s horror comic last month in which a mad scientist kidnaps two starry-eyed youths who are madly in love and locks them in a cage without food or water as part of a sadistic experiment which he proposes will prove that the bonds of love will easily crumble once the two begin to starve and their primitive animal instincts take over. Luis Buñuel wasn't so sadistic, but he certainly shared this scientist's (and Freud's) view that men are driven by repressed and irrational animal forces that, given the right set of circumstances, will overpower the (sometimes arbitrary) norms, barriers and boundaries of polite society.

Los Olvidados has the superficial appearance of a social problem melodrama--fatherless, impoverished youths…

I've never been more conflicted than ever on what to label such an effort but whichever category you would place it in, whether it be Mexican realism or surrealism, Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados is still one of the finest films about poverty to have ever been made. The films of Luis Buñuel were always weird in some way or another but nevertheless, they always made for extremely fascinating results and offer a scathing critique of some sort which exposes a sort of cleverness that ranks him among the greatest filmmakers of his own kind. But Luis Buñuel was truly a one of a kind filmmaker if one were to speak in that regard, whether we go from surreal comedies like…

Luis Buñuel's disquieting and difficult masterpiece Los Olvidados is a landmark in 50's neo-realism and an unflinching lament for the human condition lacking sentiment or sugarcoating — also one of the first and finest features about juvenile delinquents.

"I hope they'll kill every one of them before they are born."

This line — being uttered by an old, blind man near the end of the film — perfectly encapsulates the pure awfulness of the world these young boys live in. They live in a world of petty crime, intense poverty, judicial injustice, parental disdain, obtuse violence, loss of innocence and inner distrust. In Los Olvidados Buñuel paints a portrait of Mexico City that seems to smother the inhabitants and the…

***One of the best 150 films I have ever seen.***

SPANISH REVIEW:

Luis Buñuel es otro de mis directores gigantes del cine, y estoy orgulloso de presentarles la primera mejor película de su entera filmografía, la cual está considerada también como una de las mejores películas mexicanas de todos los tiempos por una versión de la revista "SOMOS" publicada en 1994, ocupando el segundo puesto justo después de ¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa! (1936), de Fernando de Fuentes. A pesar de que Luis Buñuel haya nacido en España, me enorgullece decir que Los Olvidados es un verdadero tesoro nacional cuyas generaciones posteriores preservarán afectuosamente con admiración y respeto. Los Olvidados se ha convertido en un ícono del cine nacional y es…

I expected this to be another Bunuel satire or something with at least a touch of humor to it, but instead, it was a brutal, sometimes bizarre story of poverty, juvenile delinquency, and general tragedy. It follows a group of kids as they cause trouble, but quickly focuses on two of them--Jaibo and Pedro. Jaibo is a burgeoning sociopath, and Pedro is just a kid who wants to be good but doesn't always succeed. Jaibo preys on Pedro, using him as an accomplice and victim.

Pedro is unloved, lost, and impotent, and the world treats him poorly for it. His mother scorns him, Jaibo uses him, and the authorities do not listen to him. In the end, he is treated…

I decided to have a Buñuel double Bill after watching Belle de Jour, and this one seemed like the perfect choice since it’s once I’ve wanted to see for a while now. This really is a fantastic film.

First of all, the film itself still manages to be shocking even 69 years later. I really wasn’t expecting it to be as graphic or as brutal as it was. I think this is a testament to how well the film has aged and how it is still powerful and relevant nearly 70 years later.

Also, it’s truly amazing how influential this film is. From Hector Babenco’s 1981 masterpiece Pixote to City of God (2002), this film has clearly influenced and continues…

A really great slice of life film with some added elements of surrealism to keep things interesting.
This film felt a lot like A Brighter Summer Day, but without the added benefit of 2.5 more hours to develop characters as sharply. Several characters are very well written, while only a few really needed a bit more for the climax of this film to be fully realized. Some of the editing also needed a bit more work towards the beginning, as everything felt very stagnated and slow, but it got much better as the film went on.
What I really appreciated was the commentary on the vicious cycle that is poverty, as well as the opportunistic and manipulative mentality that such…

I saw this film last night and it presents a powerful examination of the social political climate of the Mexico City in that era. Ending is such a downer of a boy's body rolling down a pile of trash.
I think the overall message is that when people, who barely have anything financially, lose their faith in each other us when their poverty stricken society fails. The kid Pedro had nobody to turn to except his mother and even then she turned him down. He had nothing going for him. I think it's some sort of case study of how I'd the government can't take care of these people, then what's left is each other. Even then this fails with…