about the ending


SPOILERS, obviously



I watched this movie last night and think I might have watched an edited or even botched copy of it. I have this question about the ending I watched and would like to compare it with you guys might have watched:

so, in the very end, Jaibo lays dying after shot by the police; that girl and her grandfather move Pedro's corpse on their donkey through the town, while they pass by Pedro's mom searching for Pedro, and dispose of it in some dump and start to leave. Cue to FIN while some somewhat uplifting music started to play and cut, end of the showing.

1. What troubles me is the utter bleakness of what had happened up to the FIN message, especially in contrast to the 'happy' music while FIN was on. Did I miss a happy or vindicating ending, between the disposal of the corpse and FIN?

2. What was the point of that music which accompanied FIN?

3. Can you describe the ending that *you* watched?

4. Perhaps alternate endings exist? What was the one Bunuel intended?

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An alternate ending really DOES exist and is included as a bonus in the French DVD.
However, this happy ending was imposed to the movie after the bad receipt in its original Mexican release. When the original version was shown in Cannes and was a triumph, producers changed their minds and the "happy ending" was put aside. In fact, I never heard of it until recent years when a documentary on Luis Bunuel's Mexican movies was shown on French TV (although I'm old enough for having seen "Los Olvidados" in theaters at its original release in Paris).
This alternate ending is interesting only as a curiosity, and because some of the actors were recalled for new scenes. It's a mixing of sequences of the original film and new ones.
The French DVD is not bad, but for a movie of such importance, I agree that a company like Criterion would be necessary.

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My thoughts in response to this very old post: I thought the ending was ironic. As Pedro's body rolls down into the rubbish dump, the camera pans up to the sky in which a light is glimpsed, perhaps of the moon. I took this as symbolic and a reflection of a sky devoid of a god. Imposing 'fin' onto this seemed even more symbolic.

Keep silent unless what you are going to say is more important than silence.

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