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A film serious in tone - not 'hilarious' as some have said

posted 17 years ago by peterrichard30
9 replies | jump to latest

While there's irony in the narrator's comments - it's hardly intended to make it a comedy. How much of it is documentary and how much it isn't is not really the issue either. It's quite obvious you are meant to sympathise with the people depicted in the film. I don't think the music of Brahm's 4th Symphony that was used in the version I saw was meant to be ironic but was there to add poignancy to the film. The only surrealism is the gap between the narrator and the subjects filmed. Altogether not a film most would laugh during at all, it's actually quite political and disturbing.

[–] bmixxle 16 years ago

can't it be both?

[–] frodo_unplugged 16 years ago

I'd also say that the overal unsettling tone Bunuel achieves is due to a mix of seriousness, compassion, comedy and ridicule.

[–] johnyjoe 15 years ago

It's definitely a heavily surreal little film, especially due to the fact that the movie refuses to have a coherent message. But I do agree that the movie doesn't seem to be trying to be funny. A lot of it was rather depressing.

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[–] mdbrown-3 15 years ago

More than anything, the Brahms and deadpan voiceover conspire to make the film seem, on the surface, extremely sincere.

But once the narration and images are examined more closely, lots of contradictions and crazy jokes emerge, about honey bees, interior decoration and the 'rarity of balconies' in Las Hurdes. The voiceover starts to come over as a parody of the 'objective' documentary perspective, making all sorts of wild statements that presuppose the subjects' 'primitive' wretchedness.

Then again, much of the poverty and disease in the film was clearly real. An unsettling combination of 'fact' and 'parody' and not quite either. It's a different effect than with a straightforward mockumentary like 'Spinal Tap'. There is a serious intent at the core of this film (the aim doesn't seem to be 'entertainment'), yet it's somewhat hard to pin down.

[–] roell29 12 years ago

There *is* something hilarious about this film. Seems like it's intended for a bourgeiose audience to cluck and pity and feel good about themselves in comparison but it's just so over the top! I keep finding myself making up my own narration - "most Hurdanos will die several times in course of their lives, so miserable is their existence"... I don't even believe half the crazy stuff the narrator comes out with. There's probably some nefarious agenda behind it all, maybe having to do with the orphan program they mention in the beginning (I noticed how the cameraman kept focusing on one particularly cute little girl). Maybe some perv wanted to get his hands on those kids so they came up with a plan to publicly defame the Hurdanos in order to have program taken away from them. Probably the people living there never had any idea how they were depicted and would have been hopping mad if they did. It would be so funny to film an entirely normal town and give it this sort of treatment. "The pitiful cretins, victims of incest, have nothing but dirt to eat for their breakfast", etc.

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[–] SpikeDurden 11 years ago

This film is definitely hilarious. I was laughing half the time and had a grin on my face the rest.

"This girl has been lying here for three days... we were told several days later the girl died."

The whole morons and dwarves and hide and seek part.

"Can you believe this woman is 32 years old?"

"They only eat meat when things like this happen" *Goat falls off a cliff*

This movie is hilarious.

My editing styles teacher played it in class and everyone was laughing.

You completely missed the point. You're not supposed to sympathize with the people in the film because the film is making fun of that entire concept. It's a joke. Perhaps the first mockumentary.

[–] CorruptPolitician_187 10 years ago

You knew that this was supposed to be a joke. But many people thought this was a documentary, when looking in that perspective is not funny.

[–] oknar1977 9 years ago

"Can you believe this woman is 32 years old?"

:D

when I was 18, there was one 30-something woman looking much older for her years, she said similar sentence for herself. she was telling us that we must party as much, not waste our youth. i always wonder what would i accomplish by drinking, smoking and being with drunkards until morning?

[–] icdedpeeple888 9 years ago

You're right. This film is hilarious. Part of the humor seventy years later is watching people still trying to take it seriously.

Come on, how many people and donkeys in that valley have to die from honey bee stings before you realize that the joke is on you? How many uncombed heads did you see on those children? You never have to wait more than thirty seconds before the images on-screen contradict what is being said. The music is as anachronistic as the narrator, and thus, it is perfect for the effect that Bunuel seems to be aiming for.

Bunuel was no fool. I'll even be so bold as to say that the smoke from the gunfire during the goat's death scene was left in so as to enhance the theatricality of this piece.

Un Chien Andalou has been my favorite Bunuel film for years. I think that this one might have knocked it off of its perch. I never thought that a surrealist documentary was even possible. Absolutely incredible.