Review contains mild spoilers.
Watching Los Olvidados for the first time, one gets the feeling that this is a film way ahead of it's time. Made nine years earlier than the critically acclaimed Truffaut classic, Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows), Los Olvidados is a much more powerful and realistic portrayal. The story is centred around Pedro and Jaibo, and watching them it is not difficult to see why the English translation of the title is 'The Young and The Damned'
This film is both touching and violent if you are looking for happy endings, then go and watch Snow White, for there are none here. The DVD version does contain an alternate 'happy ending', which I'm glad wasn't chosen, as it would have completely destroyed the whole impact of the film.
Throughout, you cannot help but think 'There but for the grace of God go I'. While set in 1950, this film could have been made last week. 50 years later we have films like City of God, and very little progress has been made in terms of the society in which these kids live. The streets are dirty, the fighting dirtier, and there is an overwhelming sense of desperation throughout. It is evident that Pedro is trying, and, for various reasons, failing, to be a more educated and well behaved young man, and the sadness of this is deeply echoed in the ending.
At 80 minutes this is a comparatively short movie; however it manages to get its message across very clearly. There are a few people who seem to dislike the dream sequences. I have to admit I found them unnerving as opposed to dislikeable. They added well to the overall ambiance of the film, which in itself is a very disturbing piece of cinema history, and very violent for the 50's when so many 'happy' Hollywood movies were doing their inevitable rounds
Make no mistake; this is no easy film to watch. The animal cruelty is particularly noticeable, and while I stand to be corrected, there is one scene in which a pair of chickens are literally clubbed to death by a frustrated and angry Pedro. Combine this with the general attitude to the animals, some portrayed, and some very real, and it makes for uneasy viewing. Scenes like these would never be allowed nowadays, thank God, and yet the scene in question actually highlights our own misplaced loyalties While we are busy thinking about the atrocious way in which these animals are massacred, we are also busy forgetting that this film is REALISM. There are children across the world, living in exactly the same conditions as this film, from 50 years ago, and many of them are forgotten souls destined to the same fate as young Pedro. I am NOT condoning the use of the violence against the animals, but it does give one food for thought, on just where our priorities lie.
This is sad, brutal and dramatic film, and one not to be missed. This is everything that '400 Blows' should have been. Sure it was a reasonably capable film, but this is a true cinematic masterpiece, with stunning imagery and a powerful insight into the world of 'The Young and the Damned' ..
Watching Los Olvidados for the first time, one gets the feeling that this is a film way ahead of it's time. Made nine years earlier than the critically acclaimed Truffaut classic, Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows), Los Olvidados is a much more powerful and realistic portrayal. The story is centred around Pedro and Jaibo, and watching them it is not difficult to see why the English translation of the title is 'The Young and The Damned'
This film is both touching and violent if you are looking for happy endings, then go and watch Snow White, for there are none here. The DVD version does contain an alternate 'happy ending', which I'm glad wasn't chosen, as it would have completely destroyed the whole impact of the film.
Throughout, you cannot help but think 'There but for the grace of God go I'. While set in 1950, this film could have been made last week. 50 years later we have films like City of God, and very little progress has been made in terms of the society in which these kids live. The streets are dirty, the fighting dirtier, and there is an overwhelming sense of desperation throughout. It is evident that Pedro is trying, and, for various reasons, failing, to be a more educated and well behaved young man, and the sadness of this is deeply echoed in the ending.
At 80 minutes this is a comparatively short movie; however it manages to get its message across very clearly. There are a few people who seem to dislike the dream sequences. I have to admit I found them unnerving as opposed to dislikeable. They added well to the overall ambiance of the film, which in itself is a very disturbing piece of cinema history, and very violent for the 50's when so many 'happy' Hollywood movies were doing their inevitable rounds
Make no mistake; this is no easy film to watch. The animal cruelty is particularly noticeable, and while I stand to be corrected, there is one scene in which a pair of chickens are literally clubbed to death by a frustrated and angry Pedro. Combine this with the general attitude to the animals, some portrayed, and some very real, and it makes for uneasy viewing. Scenes like these would never be allowed nowadays, thank God, and yet the scene in question actually highlights our own misplaced loyalties While we are busy thinking about the atrocious way in which these animals are massacred, we are also busy forgetting that this film is REALISM. There are children across the world, living in exactly the same conditions as this film, from 50 years ago, and many of them are forgotten souls destined to the same fate as young Pedro. I am NOT condoning the use of the violence against the animals, but it does give one food for thought, on just where our priorities lie.
This is sad, brutal and dramatic film, and one not to be missed. This is everything that '400 Blows' should have been. Sure it was a reasonably capable film, but this is a true cinematic masterpiece, with stunning imagery and a powerful insight into the world of 'The Young and the Damned' ..