Word: bu
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...Buñuel reached the height of blasphemy in 1961 when he returned to Spain to make "Viridiana," a film that was instantly repudiated by the Franco government - right after it had won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. A biting social satire about a novice (Silvia Pinal) who visits her lecherous uncle's estate before taking her final vows, the film is rife with blasphemous images: a cross that doubles as a pocketknife, a cross of thorns being tossed on a blazing fire, a group of mangy beggars assembling into a "Last Supper" tableau vivant...
...last two must-see religious-themed Buñuel films draw their plotlines from actual historical events. "Simon of the Desert" (1965) is a low-budget production about a holy man who lives in a remote part of the desert, perched on a high pillar. The devil comes to tempt Simon, in the form of a sexy young woman (Silvia Pinal); for her final act, she shows this ascetic a vision of a modern day "black mass," taking him inside a noisy, sweaty, rockin' 1960s discotheque! "The Milky Way," Bunuel's final statement on Catholicism, is an episodic exploration...
...important to note that the film that probably best illustrates Buñuel's feelings about Christianity is also one of his most sober-minded, the Mexican production "Nazarin" (1958). Hailed by Christian critics as well as Buñuel's usual contingent of nonconformist fans, the film concerns a small-town priest whose attempts to dispense real Christian charity result in derision, poverty, exile and arrest. "Nazarin" demonstrates the essential difference between Buñuel's brand of blasphemy and that currently practiced in American pop culture: Buñuel's gags and images contain a strong sense...
...Buñuel was more comfortable talking about his atheism in interviews than he was exploring the mysteries of his films. He was so adamant about his position that he boasted of a spiteful prank he hoped to pull on his "atheist, communist" friends. When he knew he was about die, he stated "I will call a priest, confess loudly, accuse myself of everything, say I believe in God and tell them to take my death as an example. 'You've shared my sinister beliefs,' [I'll tell them,] 'look at how I die.' And then...
...Trailers: The majority of Buñuel's films have been released on home video, with some titles unfortunately going in and out of distribution; for a reliable list, try Movies Unlimited. The best books about Bunuel are the aforementioned "Objects of Desire" and "Luis Buñuel: A Critical Biography." Buñuel's own writings can be found in "An Unspeakable Betrayal" and his autobiography (largely ghostwritten by his frequent collaborator Jean-Claude Carriere), "My Last Sigh...