La Voie lactée (The Milky Way) (1969)

Director: Luis Bunuel
Writers:   Luis Bunuel, Jean-Calude Carriere
Cast:       Paul Frankeur, Laurent Terzieff, Alain Cuny
Language: French/Sapnish

Two drifters go on a pilgrimage from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Along the way, they hitchhike, beg for food, and face the Christian dogmas and heresies from different ages.

The title refers to the the fact that the original name for Milky Way was 'Way of St. James' which directed pilgrims from northern Europe to Spain. The film plays with time with the two main characters encountering individuals from older times in the modern setting of the film including Jesus Christ who is depicted as more of an ordinary man with him  joking around, feeling hungry, making mistakes and so on. Luis Bunuel was a prominent atheist during his time and he coined the phrase:'Thank God I'm an atheist'. Through his many films he had rallied against moralism and organized religion. This film works as vignettes of absurdisms he wants to present about Catholic dogma. Things like trinity of Christian God, Freewill in the context of omnipotent God and Virginity of Mary are discussed pointing out how people cannot get their head around these things when they actually think about it. The so so called heresies shown in the film are historicall accurate with the end credits preceded by the following statement from Bunuel:

“

Everything in this film concerning the Catholic religion and the heresies it has provoked, especially from the dogmatic point of view, is rigorously exact. The texts and citations are taken either direct from Scripture, or modern and ancient works on theology and ecclesiastical history.

”

The film is not very cinematic but is a decent enough watch. For atheists like me who are not that interested in the lunacies associated with Christian faith (or any faith for that matter) the film doesn't hold much interest. Better to watch much more slapstick yet poignant ones like 'Life of Brian' which I think would have been influenced by this film.

Rating: 2.5/5

Cet obscur objet du désir (That Obscure Object of Desire) (1977)

Director: Luis Bunuel
Writers:  Luis Bunuel, Jean-Claude Carriere, Pierre Louys
Cast:      Fernando Rey, Carole Bouquet, Angela Molina
Language: French/Spanish

The film tells the story of an aging French man Mathieu who falls in love with a young Spanish woman Conchita who repeatedly frustrates his romantic and sexual desires. It is set in Spain and France against the backdrop of terrorist insurgency. The story is shown as a flashback told by Mathieu  to his fellow passengers during a train ride from Seville to Madrid.

There are two actresses playing the role of Conchita with them switching throughout the film and even during the middle of some scenes. Bunuel suggested this idea playfully to the producer after the filming was halted due to an actress leaving the film.The relation between Mathieu and Conchita is very manipulative and it isn't clear who is manipulating who. One should wonder about the truthfulness with which Mathieu is narrating the story to his fellow passengers because he seems to get a lot of sympathy from them even though from what is shown to us he doesn't warrant it.

This was Luis Bunuel's last film and many directors tend to dabble with films about films and storytelling towards the latter part of their careers. This is one such film.

Rating: 4/5

El ángel exterminador (The Exterminating Angel) (1962)

Director:   Luis Bunuel
Writer:      Luis Bunuel
Language: Spanish
The Exterminating Angel is a surreal film from the Legendary director Luis Bunuel in which the guests at a dinner party find themselves unable to leave. There is no explanation given for their predicament but the obvious one is that all of them develop a mental barrier which prevents them from leaving. Everyone might be waiting for one of them to leave so that they could follow. We are shown their behavior in the confined space in a dark comedic way with Bunuel's criticism of Bourgeoisie rich coming to the fore again. It was a nice contrast for me compared to the previous film I watched, 'Time of the Wolf'.

In the end of the film a scene in church is shown where the priests and followers face the same predicament as the party guests. This might suggest that Bunuel is showing that the followers of church are also not renouncing their beliefs just like the guests couldn't leave, waiting for someone else to start the procession. Exterminating Angel was done by Luis Bunuel after he returned to Mexico following the controversies generated by 'Viridiana'. Viridiana, Exterminating Angel and Simon of the desert are often described as a Trilogy in which the common theme is criticism of religion and church.

Rating: 4/5

Belle de Jour (1967)

Director:   Luis Bunuel
Writers:    Luis Bunuel, Joseph Kessel, Jean-Claude Carriere
Language: French
Belle de Jour in French translates to Daylight Beauty. Severine is a young frigid housewife who has masochistic fantasies which leads her to spending her midweek afternoons as a prostitute.

The film is great in the sense that it doesn't go for cliches towards the end even though the events leading up to it seems to be run of the mill. Its another film in which Bunuel does not seem to care about the morals upheld by the society.

Martin Scorsese promoted the DVD release of the film in 2002.

Rating: 4.5/5

Viridiana (1961)

Director:   Luis Bunuel
Writer:      Luis Bunuel, Julio Alejandro, Benito Perez Galdos
Language: Spanish
Viridiana, a young nun about to take her final vows, pays a visit to her widowed uncle who rapes her. The uncle commits suicide the day after. Viridiana decides to stay in the house taking poor people into her care. She is joined in the house by uncle's son who was conceived outside the marriage.

Franco, Spanish dictator, invited back Bunuel from exile to do a film and this was Bunuel's message to him and religious charities. Franco was furious with the film and he tried to block it from Cannes. He was unsuccessful and it won Palme d'Or at Cannes. The point raised by Bunuel  in this film is poignant and is very relevant to our times. I could especially relate it to the aid given to African countries which just leads to corruption and lack of cooperation and trade between African countries.

The film is not surrealistic like other Bunuel films.

Rating: 3.5/5