Customer Reviews

Milky Way [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I agree with everything the other reviewer wrote. However, he did neglect to mention how FUNNY "The Milky Way" is. Even, the title is a bit of a kick, evoking as it does for Americans our galaxy and a candy bar, and which in the movie refers to the road to Santiago (St. James) de Campostella, where St. James is not buried! Theology students would really appreciate some of this, especially the sword-fight/theological debate. Get it. See it. Love it!

Bunuel's satirical exploration of the history of Catholicism. Two pilgrim tramps are on their way to a religious shrine in Spain when they become part of surrealistic episodes concerning Catholic heresies throughout the ages. Scenes change from modern times to the 1600s to the the time of the Inquisition to the time of Jesus in the blink of an eye, and no one bothers about it or even notices it. At times the movie comes across as an intellectual bull session on religious matters, but it moves along quickly and has enough humorous moments to keep the viewer interested and not bogged down in the verbiage. There are wonderful subtle touches throughout from the master director, visual images that are striking: the sword fight, the burning corpses, the priest at the bedroom door and then inside, to name a few. It's a late gem from Bunuel's repertoire, and definitely worth a watch.

Once more the prodigal son of Calanda makes a very intelligent and carefully satire, cynical and ironic gaze about the religion and its collateral implications when decides to make an extraordinary semblance about certain dogmatic incoherencies and insane behavior as the funny sequence in which Jesus decides to cut his hair but Maria avoids it as any fashion adviser, or the use of nut who assumes the role of a priest discussing about religion in a miserable bar through a true tour de force script. A road movie that will lead us to Santiago de Compostela and besides will interweave past and present where out of mind characters who will make you laugh and reflect. Not for squeamish tastes or sensible spirits.
A giant film along the way.

Sandwiched between Catherine Deneuve's two stints as Bunuel's leading lady (BELLE DE JOUR and TRISTANA, respectively), THE MILKY WAY is often overlooked. But it is in truth a remarkable film, a classic. This is probably the director's most anticlerical film; but paradoxically, it is also one of his most spiritual. The "plot": Two vagrants, an old man and a young upstart, are making a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella, some kind of obscure religious landmark. Along the way, they are treated like dirt by police, priests, and various other authority figures; they meet the devil; they travel through time; they meet the Marquis de Sade and Jesus Christ (among others); etc. The point? Who cares? It's such a fascinating statement about (not necessarily against) religion and especially Catholicism. It's prime Bunuel satire, and in my opinion one of the director's best films. Indescribable, like most of Luis Bunuel's movies. It's sort of like Jonathan Swift, or maybe Marquis de Sade's writings, but Bunuel is much kinder in his treatment of his characters (a trend that continued until the director's death, in marked contrast to the bitter, often slyly low-brow comedy of his early Mexican films). A must-see for Bunuel fans.