The Cinematic Melting Pot

In the days of the Franco regime, Spanish cinema 
was profoundly censored and it was exceptionally difficult to find films that dealt with the problems at hand, socially or otherwise of the ordinary working people. There were some notable exceptions however, that were found in the work of Juan Antonio Bardem and Luis Garcia Berlanga. Bardem's Muerte de un Ciclista (1955, Death of a Cyclist) underlined the callousness of a couple of middle-class lovers who fatally maim a cyclist whilst en route to a party.  Bardem's subsequent release Calle Mayor (1936, Main Street), recounted the cruel trick that was played on a local spinster who is led to believe she is engaged and to be married. Berlanga, on the other hand was lauded for the sardonic tone he used to great effect in  Bienvenido, Mr Marshall (1953, Welcome Mr Marshall), which was a critique of the way a poor rural town expends the money it receives under the Marshall Aid plan

One of the greatest Spanish directors, Luis Bunuel (1900-1983), was celebrated for his early Surrealist works that he produced in France, Un Chien Andalou (1928, An Andalusian Dog), was a short film which he famously collaborated with Salvador Dali and in 1930 he would churn L'Age d'Or (1930, The Golden Age).

                               As suggestive as it is surrealistic, L'Age d'Or (1930)


There has never quite been a film like L'Age d'Or, before or since it graced the world with it's presence, With it's fantastical imagery that unravels the bizarre and horrific of the everyday, it's anti-clericalism, anti-authoritarianism, anti-bourgeoisism blaspheme, sadism, the celebration of l'amour fou, and in coalition, the farcical ironies. This would be the definitive summation of Bunuel's credo (or anti-credo mayhaps)? This was done to create a perpetual source of reference, a bridge to his works that would ensue. Following a documentary and some co-directing on various Spanish productions that he went unacknowledged for, Luis Bunuel sadly, went into exile at the end of the Civil War and spent his life uneventful in both New York and Hollywood.

                    From Bunuel's other side of the border days

Bunuel did not continue feature film direction until the year 1947, when he would embark on a
collection of featherweight, anemically budgeted, albeit popular films in Mexico, which culminated in
1950's Los Olividados (The Young and the Damned, 1950), a melodrama that centered on delinquent children in the capital of Mexico. And this film was distinguished by Bunuel's characteristic, signature blend of documentary and surrealism. When this film won the Official Jury Prize for direction at the esteemed Cannes in 1951, Bunuel would now return to his saddle and back to the ranks of the great international film artists.

            The ones who made angels of those Bowery Boys




Bunuel himself, considered Los Olividados to be a social film, albeit, it is an exception to the genre, in that it transcended the limitations of it's intent - the film does not exploit it's vision to make some glib commentary. Bunuel mercilessly directed this in his treatment of the young gangsters that are observed in Mexico City. In two separate incidents, the gang terrorize a blind man and heartlessly remove a legless man off of a trolley on which he uses to propel himself. Jaibo (Roberto Cobo) the impervious and sinister leader of the gang, is at once the director's concept and vision of the 'free man' and simultaneously the one who is shackled by his own urges. He is seen as a hero, and worshiped by younger and seemingly naive Pedro,(Alfonso Mejia) whose mother (Estela Inda) has intimate relations with Jaibo. Sent as punishment to a farm-reformatory, Pedro is now trusted by the governor, but  sent out on an errand - again comes under the violence of Jaibo. The two boys are killed, Bunuel not only infiltrated his own supernal brand of Surrealism into this film (notably a mother-affectionate, Oedipal dream sequence) but he imposes the whole of a ruthless logic, where sentimentally and warmth are absent factors. The benevolent governor who sends Pedro on an errand, is typical of the heart-bleeder's liberalism which Bunuel, who was an anarchist, vehemently denounced. Liberal kindness ultimately leads to the death of Pedro. And the blind man for whom initially earns our pathos, is eventually seen as cruel, also a victim of his toxic environs. About all the young, he screams "Tomorrow, tomorrow, we'll be finished with the lot of you!"

An impeccable craftsman who liked to work fast and efficaciously, Bunuel never spurned purely commercial chores and he infused his own personality and preoccupations into them. He succeeded into making films that would appeal to a broader audience, without in any respect compromising or undermining his own distinctive and in essence, austere view of the world as it were. From his Mexico period, would come masterworks such as El (1953, This Strange Passion) a wondrous study of pathological jealousy, his insightful and heretical Robinson Crusoe (1954); and the acclaimed dark comedy Ensayo de un Crimen ; La Vida Criminal de Archibaldo de la Cruz). The pinnacle of the Mexican period came with Nazarin (1958) an ironic and endearing fable on the implausibility of leading a proper Christian lifestyle in a world skeptical.

               From when Luis got back to where he once belonged Viridiana (1961)




This theme was delved into deeper in 1961's Viridiana, which was produced in Spain after he had been invited back as their distinguished and honored son, Bunuel - lived and died by his theory - that one actually should bite that proverbial feeding hand, and took the Spanish establishment by storm, with his happy blend of blasphemy and indecency in a film which having it's first showing at the Cannes Festival where it earned itself the Palme d'Or defied subsequent attempts to repress it. He would make only two more films in Mexico - El Angel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel ,1962) where he would resume his purely surrealist themes with the utmost gaiety and satire in a story of a group of blue-bloods, that become entrapped by the some inexplicable force in a salon, and with his impish yet moral tale Simon del Desierto ( Simon of the Desert, 1965) about a saint dedicated to such abstract works of devotion as sitting atop pillars in the Desert. Though he would contiunue to be a Mexican citizen and reside in the country, most of Bunuel's later films were to be of the French persuasion - made sometimes with Spanish connections.

      Director Cacoyannis and Anthony Quinn during the filming of Zorba the Greek (1964).


The films made in Greece during the Fifties by the young Greek-Cypriot director Michael Cacoyannis (b. 1922) showed great sensitivity for working class townspeople and peasants. His first international hit was a comedy release Kyriakaticko Xypinima ( Windfall in Athens, 1954) and this enabled Cacoyannis to secure finances for a couple of stronger social commentary films, Stella (1955) starring sexy spitfire Melina Mercouri in her maiden screen role, as a woman seeking to free herself from virtual enslavement in an antiquated Greek society, and To Koritisi Me Ta Mavra (A Girl In Black, 1956) a story of murder and persecution in the aftermath of the overthrow of a village's petty nobility. To Telefteo Psemma ( A Matter of Dignity, 1958) this would be the fourth effort of the inspired director Cacoyannis, which starred Ellie Lambetti, who had appeared in two of his earlier films and become a firm favourite with worldwide audiences. During the 1960's, Cacoyannis would turn his attention to the Greek drama classics, and he would specifically film them with Lambetti and as intended vehicles for Irene Papas who would be  a recurring lead. But it would not be until the release of Zorba the Greek in 1964. the international co-production that the director would best be actually acknowledged.




*This article is Part One of my written series that will examine the art of international cinema.