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…

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…

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…

Luis Bunuel portrays the endless cycle of poverty and violence with a brutal lack of optimism. Shot mostly in the streets of a Mexico City slum following various destitute children just trying to survive. With similarities to Italian neorealism - extensive use of exterior locations and non-professional actors - but with Bunuel's distinctive penchant for surrealist visual techniques. The plot mainly revolves around Pedro (Alfonso Mejia) and his aimless attempts to better his life and gain the approval of his mother and El Jaibo (Robert Cobo), the detached and murderous leader of "the Damned." The most powerful visually provoking moment is Pedro's slow-motion dream sequence after Jaibo murders Julian which highlights his guilt and longing for the affection of his…

Film #9 off my list of films to watch before the end of the year:

Those who take advantage of others will always get their way...until they don’t.

“The bearer, above all else, of poetic consciousness” Andrei Tarkovsky on Luis Buñuel

There’s two types of people in this world, those who take advantage of others, and those who mind their own and don’t let others take advantage of them. There should be a third but sadly the ones taken advantage of don’t last very long whether its weakness or kindness they dissapate with time. The good die young and the bad grow old seems to be a big theme here. 

This is something my uncle’s always talking about but of…

I expected something a lot more surreal from a Bunuel film, but the surrealism is used pretty sparingly here - although still to great effect. But instead this is presented more in very objective, fly-on-the-wall fashion, and that really adds massive power to the film.
Beneath the unadorned representation of the lives of these people simmers a silent rage at the futility of their existence, of the inevitability of their ruined lives. The bleakness is unrelenting - nothing is sentimentalised, which is astonishing in a film focusing mainly on children, even in a film pushing a serious social message.
It's a unique and incredible film - and it shines such a new light on what Bunuel was capable of, as…