An Absurdist Masterpiece !!!

"Film will only become an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper."-J Cocteau

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While many reviewers of Luis Bunuel's Simon Of The Desert (1965) seem hung up on the alleged historical fact that the funding for the film was pulled while it was still in production, I just don't see how such information should impinge on the viewer's appreciation, or the lack of it, of a given film. I feel that Simon Of The Desert should be judged for what is seen on the screen, and nothing else.

I viewed the film without knowing anything about its alleged funding problem and I think that it's a cinematic masterpiece in the Surrealist and Absurdist traditions just as it stands.

I really didn't pick up on the subtleties of Simon's developing crisis of faith, as did other reviewers, , although I suppose that they are actually there to be seen.

Actually, Bunuel had me fooled until the very end. I thought that the film as a whole was a tribute of sorts to the real Saint Simeon, a man who had to divorce himself from the "hypocritical" structure and dogma of the established Church to actually find God. This in itself would've been effectively in line with Bunuel's well known disdain for Roman Catholicism and, perhaps, a cinematic acknowledgment that perhaps Bunuel did believe in God and in a genuine spiritual experience, outside of the "phony" constrictions of the established Church hierarchy and dogma, that is.

But that the Devil , in the end, magically transports Simon through time and space from the Syrian desert of the 5th century A.D. to a NYC rock and roll nightclub scene ala the 1960's is a very Absurdist twist and dramatically reveals Bunuel's true attitude not only toward the established Church but also toward supposedly pious saints and "holy men" as well.

That the Devil tells Simon in the last scene that he is never going back tells me that the 1960's rock scene is Simon's Hell and his just "reward" for his pious and holy life. After a life of severe austerity and deprivation, Simon's "hell" is to spend the rest of eternity in the ultra-materialistic and ultra-sensual world of modern big city life. In short, Bunuel is telling us that the whole idea of saints and "holy men" is just a lot of BS. The abrupt shift in scenes at the end from Simon of the desert to Simon of the modern rock scene is an effective Absurdist commentary on that seemingly atheistic viewpoint.

Possible funding problems aside, I find no problem in the relatively short length of this film. The length of the film is sufficient to allow Bunuel to say what he intended to say, and that's all that matters to me. Perhaps, more materialistically minded viewers, imbued with capitalist values, didn't feel that they got their "money's worth" out of this short film, but quantity is never to be equated with quality, in my view.

The old adage is "If you have lemons, then make lemonade". If Bunuel did experience funding problems while making this film, then he surely took that "lemon" and turned it into a very tasty "lemonade". at least in my opinion.