Customer Reviews

The Milky Way (The Criterion Collection)

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despite the weight of the subject at hand, and the disorientation from the rapid montage from one time period to the next, this may be the least surreal of all the French era Bunuels. Within a mix of what for Bunuel seems relatively light provocation, he presents a series of historical religious events that amplify his critique of the Church for it's losing its way through its obsession with infallible detail that contradicts itself as it evolves. i confess that as a fan of the parable of the good samaritan, i share a sense of befuddlement at the intolerance and exclusivity of the fundamentalists of any religion, let alone one founded on love and tolerance.

but what makes Bunuel's argument so interesting is his avowed atheist stance. from his earliest movies on, he has ridiculed the folly of authoritarian ascension, seemingly maintaining full grasp of the beauty of the original that lies beneath the facade. he opens the door for the viewer, while demonstratively refusing to take the step through for himself. one can only wonder what motivations lay at the heart of an artist whose gifts produce such clarity.

The Milky Way (1969)
Dir. Maestro Luis Bunuel
One of best movies that analyzes European Christianity and Catholicism with a Surrealistic microscope. Two allegorical pilgrims on there way to Santiago de Compostela from Paris see 2000 years of Orthodoxy through a series of unrelated vignettes dealing with heresies and anathemia. Blasphemy? Hardly. Sacreligous? Never!
Critical in a loving way? Of course. Get this movie. Pierre Clementi rules as the Destroying Angel!
Extras are minimal with 1 short documentry and 2 interviews, one with a critic who sounds like he didn't get it in the first place.
However, this Criterion DVD is packaged with the class that The Milky Way deserves. Subtitles default in English with overlapping text. Original language: French with a touch of Spanish and Mystical Latin. I see this movie as the natural sequel to Simon of the Desert.
Luis Bunuel, filmmaker, Surrealist Extraordinaire, we'll never see his kind again. Nope. Thank God for him!
Coincidence or not, you decide: the timing for the release of this movie and the Mother Theresa journal?!!!!!

get this film....my favorite scene is when the virgin Mary calls over jesus, after he gives a speech at a dinner, and tells him we're out of wine can you do something. so Bunuel. unlike no other.

If for no other reason, this film is relevant for making you understand why beards are important.
If it doesn't happen right away, it eventually becomes clear that Luis Buñuel is master of cinema. Buñuel's style of filmmaking (specifically in this film) is very transparent in that you cannot recognize his authorship simply from the visual, it is more a matter of diegetic content. True transcendence and a degree of experimentation is achieved along the lines of narrative and the ideas that create this narrative. Style is kept to a minimum. With Buñuel, this is a good thing.
The milky way develops as the two main characters travel back and forth through time in a "linear" pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Yes, that sentence is supposed to sound that way. As stated before, Buñuel's uniqueness in this film is due to an experiment with narrative, not so much with cinema as a medium. Buñuel allows us to think in perhaps the more traditional terms of experiment with storytelling.

The milky way is a film that clearly expounds Buñuel's fine sense of humor. Buñuel has a humor that is truly unique, consequently yielding utterly unique works of cinema. It is a humor that is truly humanistic, irreverent as though it may be.
One particular scene that I truly enjoyed was when the two pilgrims are at a truly horrific/comedic presentation at an all girls school, where the young students mechanically recite reasons for ex-communion from the church to the very enthusiastic parents that sit around and listen. In a contiguous scene we see a band of revolutionaries executing the pope (played by Buñuel for further irony). When the gunshot is heard by the parents attending the meeting back at the school one of them asks bemused: "What was that?" one of the pilgrims replies "Oh... I was just imagining the pope being shot".
There are plenty of other examples of such exquisite comicality so particular to the mind of Buñuel (I might have slightly distorted the last scene in my retelling of it -it has been a while since I have seen the film).

The milky way is incredibly witty, exploring the absurd that makes us human. Buñuel's atheism is not to be misunderstood.
It is the atheism that comes hand in hand with reason for sure, but at the same time there is an understanding for the cultural value
of religion. It is clear that there has been great proximity to catholicism during his upbringing. And when you grow up surrounded
by ideas and images as those of most religions, and confront these to reason, you have no choice but to become a surrealist, after having
evidenced people choosing or made to believe in the absurd. At least it is something along these lines that we could get from Buñuel. Or so much more, or something completely different. He would have been amused.
It is a work of subtle cinema, yet the ideas set forth and played with in this film remain with you. Pacing is slow, but in a good way (just in case you were wondering).

The final entry in Luis Buñuel's unofficial "French trilogy" finds a pair of vagabonds seeking a ride, hop, or skip to a holy site in Spain. But the story isn't about them and their journey so much as it is a narrative of the Catholic Church's blasphemies and contradictions. Buñuel masterfully weaves the film from one scene or character to another naturally, even when both are unrelated. For example, in one scene, a restuarant server is speaking with the cooking staff about the duality of Christ. The vagabonds appear and he kicks them out. The camera follows the server as he greets a pair of patrons and continues the conversation about Christ with them, right where he left off. Many non-sequitors and surreal pieces are stitched in such a manner quite smoothly. This is the weakest of the the three films in the French trilogy (the others being "Le fantôme de la liberté" and "Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie"), but that does in no way mean that it is a weak film in and of itself.

This is a masterpiece of Bunuel's stream of consciousness surrealism at a late stage in his career. Only could an ex-catholic (of the fervent variety) have produced such a memorable and hilarious parade of images, including the hypocrisy of the faithful, a novel view of Christ as a great spontaneous orator, and the extremes of behaviors - martyrdoms, self-mutilations, you name it! - of Christians.

The plot, if there is one, follows 2 tramps as they travel towards Spain, in a long debate on religion while panhandling, visiting prostitutes, or wondering about the meaning of it all. There are miracles just missed, spliced with images from history, and Bunuel's speculations. In one scene, a restauranteur is expounding how "God is in everything like liver is in this pate" and extolling Christian generosity only to turn the bums away in the rudest manner. There are so many scenes like that that stick in the memory and get the viewer to question, all the time conscious of the mystery that is life. It is profound, funny, and open to interpretation.

Recommended as a masterpiece of experimentation and intelligence by one of the greatest directors of the 20C.

In watching Bunuel, one has to accept the inevitable disconnectedness of surrealism. By providing us with the 'spine' of the two travelers' pilgrimage, the movie has continuity while still allowing the director a free hand for his precociousness. The result is a lot of separate stories, ideas, delightful silliness, and surprises that keep the viewer involved and challenged, but not confused. This is one of the better Bunuel films in my opinion. In addition, the print and color were exceptional, except in a few washed out clips. Finally, the extras were adequate, which is more than I can say for most of the Bunuel offerings I've purchased.

This was *way* less interesting than some of Bunuel's other work. His "Phantom of Liberty" is brilliant, for instance. He's obsessed, in this film, with some of the nuances of Catholicism. Your enjoyment of this film will be roughly in proportion to your leve of interest in religious philosophy. If you're not interested in religious philosophy, take a pass.

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"The Milky Way" released in France as "La Voie lactée" is directed by Luis Buñuel and is about two men on a pilgrimage to a city in Spain. The film is a satire on various tenets of Catholicism and miracles associated with it. The film depicts Marian apparitions, Stigmatics, and other scenes.

This film is likely to offend Christians but Catholics far more so than Protestants. Being a Protestant myself who strongly disagrees with Catholic doctrine, I found this film to be interesting.

The film has some interesting supplements too. They are "Luis Buñuel: Atheist Thanks to God" a documentary about Buñuel's life and the film, an introduction by co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière, an interview with, Ian Christie, and a theatrical trailer.

Not for everyone but still interesting.