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Los Olvidados [VHS]

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"Los Olvidados" remains a landmark in not only Hispanic cinema, but world cinema as a whole. It marked the return of Luis Buñuel after two decades of obscurity and proved he was more than just a memorable name from the Surrealist movement in Europe. "Los Olvidados" is gritty, surreal storytelling at it's finest, Buñuel masterfully mixes the storytelling with dreamlike touches to create a film that is unforgettable and timeless. The film follows the lives of children living in the poverty-stricken areas of Mexico City, there is little hope in their daily living for social advancement and they resort to crime to fulfill their needs. A murder for revenge eventually creates friction between two friends and sends them on a dangerous odyssey. "Los Olvidados" is a striking social commentary, even more so today because anyone who has lived or traveled through Latin America can fully relate to the issues the film explores. Consider that the youth culture in "Los Olvidados," made in 1950, is no different from that which is shown in a more recent, equally great Mexican film, "Amores Perros," made in 2000. Buñuel paints here on a canvas of love, death, revenge, lust and murder.The images are rich and the writing is on par with the visuals, especially since Buñuel takes what would in other circumstances be seen as simple storytelling and turns it into a work full of great depth and visceral energy, there is even a hypnotic dream sequence that reminds us that Buñuel was a surrealist first and foremost in his filmmaking. When the movie first came out it won him a Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival and played for months in Paris and London, influencing many a young aspiring filmmakers, including Roman Polanski who remembers seeing the film as true literature. "Los Olvidados" has survived the test of time, and like all great movies it only grows better with age.

"Los Olvidados" is a masterpiece of a film, a true work of graphic realism in the cinema. Of course it is, it being directed by the great genius Luis Bunuel. "Los Olvidados" is a great film, richly photographed with a gritty, graphic feeling and superbly written and acted. Bunuel takes deep into the world of poverty and the consequences and events surrounding children living on the streets. It is not just an examination of juvenile crime in Mexico, but on juvenile crime as a whole. It examines what happens to people who grow without a good home, education or parents. "Los Olvidados" can also be seen as a study of the dark side of man. Bunuel looks at reality unblinkingly and makes a movie that can be hypnotic at times. It is beautiful, in a dark way. The realism can be felt vibrating off the screen and "Los Olvidados" can take on the disturbing feeling of a street documentary equipped with murder, lust and violence. Bunuel also adds a touch of eroticism that elevates the material. "Los Olvidados" is a slice of true cinema, Mexican or otherwise. It displays the masterful talent that Bunuel possessed for realism in the cinema. This is an effective, unforgettable movie. One of the greatest works ever made in Latin cinema.

Undoubtedly Los Olvidados is a significant standard of comparison for all films dealing with the cruelty and despair of life at its most despairing. Bunuel is a genius to capture such horror in the form of realism, with just a touch of surrealism with the dream scene. However, realism overall seems to become surrealism in that what occurs is difficult to stomach, difficult to imagine. It's easier of course to watch this with the typical detachment that has become a part of our lives; the challenge however is to watch it and let it hit and hit hard because it is reality and more so now than ever before.

The preface to "Los Olvidados" warns the viewers that the scenes that they are about to see are disturbing yet they are true. We'll, this movie was made in 1952 so we figure there probably isn't much in it that'll disturb us. However, I was bothered plenty by "Los Olvidados". It is the story of a gang of street kids in Mexico City. They weren't up to too much mischief until an older kid named Jaibo joins them after sneaking out of some sort of juvenile prison. He is bad and things get worse after he joins the others.

What makes this movie work so well is how Brunel, the director, is able to quickly gather our disgust and our simpathy. In several acts of violence, Jaibo assaults everything we hold sacred. Interspersed with these scenes are ones in which Pedro, another boy in the group, does his best to break out of this dead end existance. We find ourselves cheering for one and against another. I felt that Brunel was challenging us to see beyond good and evil to search out the real cause and solution to the problem. He gives us hints but wants to make sure we understand the gravity of the situation. I certainly came away impressed.

When watching this film it's often hard to believe one is looking at 1950. This foreign-language classic could easily be looking at the gritty world of Mexican poverty about 20 years later, so revolutionary was the theme of "Los Olvidados" at the time.

Legendary director Luis Bunuel, known for his iconoclasm, atheism, and preference for anarchy as a political system, could rarely be accused of playing it safe. This film is a bit raw to those of us so accustomed to high production values and Hollywood formula, but its gritty realism and in-your-face style will shake you up. You'll never look at a Christian Children's Fund TV spot quite the same after seeing the world that Pedro and Jaibo live and die in, here in the Mexico City ghetto. Many reviewers attach the words "masterpiece" and "genius" to this film, and maybe I'm just not smart enough to go that far but I can certainly recommend this to you who are looking for something a little different...especially if you speak Espanol. Subtitles always take a little something away from an intense film like this; one can't see the actors' expressions and read the words at the same time, so viewing at least twice is recommended. Don't expect a happy ending; this is the kind of film intended to deliver a message, not a smile.

Los Olvidados is my personal favorite of all of Bunuel's films.
The dream sequences within the plot offer obvious surrealistic
motifs, but the true power of the movie is the realism he created
by taking a story from a Mexico City newspaper and translating it to screen using mostly neighborhood kids. I have
shown this to Mexican immigrant students in my classroom and am
always impressed with the power this film wields over its audience. Incorrectly translated, the title means "The Forgotten" rather than the "Young and the Damned." By the way,
the Mexican public crucified Bunuel when the film came out, having to relent, when it later took first prize in France
at that year's festival.

Luis Bunuel's "Los Olvidados" is a true depiction of urban poverty in Mexico City during the mid-twentieth century. Bunuel does a fantastic job of capturing the speech, slang, and even the mannerisms of the local youth, and shows these as they involve themselves in a series of crimes including that grow in severity from theft to murder. The final scene, as shocking as it is, sums up the total disregard for human life as everyone is out for themselves. Haunting and provocative. "The Children of Sanchez" is a book by Oscar Lewis that complements Bunuel's film. Released in 1961, this autobiographical depiction of a Mexican family really takes you through a powerful journey of poverty and suffering.

Spanish surrealist director Luis Bunuel's grim "Los Olvidados" is a stark, realistic depiction of the lives of a gang of impoverished street kids in the squalid slums of Mexico City. Doomed to their existence by indigence, lack of education and parental guidance these unfortunate street urchins resort to crime and violence to sustain themselves.

Bunuel's dark commentary on society revolves around two boys, one basically good, Pedro played by Alfonso Mejia, and one bad, Jaibo played by Roberto Cobo. Jaibo has just escaped from a reformatory and takes up his place as the leader of the gang. He leads them in robbing and persecuting weak and defenseless people in the neighborhood. Pedro, born out of wedlock and abhored by his mother tries everything to win her affection but to no avail. Thrown out of his house, he takes up with Jaibo. He witnesses Jaibo's murder of another neighborhood boy who had allegedly squealed on him.

Pedro was now in deep trouble as Jaibo's accomplice. He nonetheless attempted to still curry favor with his mom by getting a job as an appentice to bring home money for his family. His plans got short circuited as Jaibo stole a knife in the shop where Pedro worked. Pedro was unjustly blamed for the theft and wound up in juvenile court.

Bunuel's story does not have a happy ending as both good boy and bad boy suffer the same fate. Bunuel's symbolic ending in which the lives of these unfortunate boys is equated with trash is particularly disquieting.

Los olvidoados es la película que marco el retorno de Buñuel a las grandes ligas cinematograficas. Despues de mas de 20 años alejado del cine comercial, Los olvidados es la muestra que buñuel no es un fosil del surrealismo sino que sabe hacer cine tan contemporaneo como antes. La pelicula tien un ritmo muy marcado y muy bueno. Los personajes estan muy bien construidos y la trama es cruda y real. Es el retrato de una sociedad que preferia vese como un Pedro Infante cantador, que como una jungla en donde todos contra todos para sobrevivir. Buñuel muestra que no hay buenos y si muchos malos y que las circunsatancias dictan el pan de cada día. La mejor película Mexicana para un publico profano. Excelente.

I like Buñuel not just because he's a great director. I also like him because he made Los Olvidados. It is ripe with social issues, poverty, gang violence, ignorance, and the struggle to survive. I like Los Olvidados because the movie reveals an unusual but common side to Latin America, poverty. Los Olvidados also has strong symbolism throughout the movie and a CONVENIENT ending for those interested in Latin American class and social reality. It is not surprising that the protagonist ends up somewhere that is a common theme to Latin American Literature. Let me not give up the ending. I first saw this film in a Media Studies/ Art class in Spain. The focus of the course was Surrealism.