Los Olvidados (1950)
Thursday, 10:15 pm, Regal Downtown #3
Director: Luis Buñuel
Writers: Luis Buñuel, Luis Alcoriza
Cinematographer: Gabriel Figueroa
Cast: Estela Inda, Miguel Inclán, Alfonso Mejía
Running Time: 85 min
Perhaps the best-known film of Luis Buñuel’s Mexican period, Los Olvidados (The Forgotten Ones) follows a band of poverty-stricken children living in a Mexican slum. The plot centers on Pedro, a young boy floundering somewhere between delinquency and responsibility, and Jaibo, the elder of the two boys, who has already chosen a life of crime.
A major influence on Truffaut’s The 400 Blows and countless other films, Buñuel brings the viewer down to eye level with the rawness of his characters. Although infused with many of Buñuel’s trademark surrealist fetishes (including disturbing dream sequences, a girl bathing her legs in milk, and a rooster staring down a blind man), Los Olvidados features stylistic choices comparable to those of the Italian neo-realists of the same period. Buñuel used mostly non-professional actors for the film and shot almost entirely on location. Inspired by actual characters and Buñuel’s own perception of life in Mexico, Los Olvidados offers a cynical look at poverty that provides no basis for reformist optimism.
On its release in 1950, the film received a storm of criticism for its focus on controversial themes, including rape, murder, and pedophilia. Nevertheless, it was, and is, a heartbreakingly truthful account of localized, highly personal experiences. At Cannes, André Bazin wrote that Los Olvidados “lashes the mind like a red-hot iron and leaves one’s conscience no opportunity for rest.”
Note: Since this is unavailable on film in the U.S., we will project a high-quality Digibeta tape struck for us by IMCINE in Mexico.
