Unsettling and confusing, primarily because of the stilted narrative. Since it's Buñuel, you should know better than to take it at face value. The tip-off comes early, in the odd phrase, "the expedition meets a choir of idiots," with no choir of any kind visible and a jump cut to another scene. Throughout the film, as the pompous voice drones on, odd things continue. We look into the mouth of a girl reported to be dying of inflamed gums; it looks healthy enough. We are shown impeccably groomed children and told they are dressed in filthy rags. By the time we are shown a child and told, "This man is 28 years old," it's become obvious that some serious leg-pulling is going on. Yet it's all set in an unfaked location known for its extreme poverty. Naturally, Buñuel never wastes an opportunity to aim his deadly sniper fire at the Catholic church and other purveyors of an inequitable system that ensures that the peasants of Las Hurdes will remain securely malnourished and undereducated. It's got to be one of the strangest exploitation pictures ever made, which is of course a big part of the point.
Read the full review at Cinema 1001. This movie is #77 in the Schneider list of 1001 Movies.
Read the full review at Cinema 1001. This movie is #77 in the Schneider list of 1001 Movies.