Los Olvidados

This movie is a real kick in the teeth. Crime, poverty, starvation and general misery permeate the movie's short runtime. It is both infuriating and heart-breaking; for instance, El Jaibo is absolutely despicable, but also a deeply tragic character. Buñuel throws in a few moments of surrealism (notably an extended dream sequence) and a dash of symbolism, but this is a far cry from the surreal madness of Un Chien Andalou or L'âge d'or. The madness depicted here is absolutely real.

Very touching and sad, but very real and some of the characters really get to you. I'm not sure if it really is based on a true story, but the things that happen in the film certainly still happen today. It's similar to City of God, but without the flashiness.

a carnival of animals, each ousted from their place on the grotesque merry-go-round and into oblivion as the skeletal architecture of a half-developed modernity looms uselessly in the background. bunuel's filthy, near-entomological examination of mexico's social inadequacies at a crossroads between tradition and progress highlights the insufficiency of old-school codified nationalism for modern artistic representation, attempting to revise the very language of mexican cinema for the new world.

Bunuel knocks another one out of the park. Not as oddball as I prefer, but a great film nonetheless (and there are some nice offbeat moments, including a little bit more of that foot fetishism).

Buñuel masterfully and unflinchingly combines terrifying realism with equally terrifying moments of surrealism - no one has or ever will match Buñuel's conjuring of the unconscious/semi-conscious on screen - to confront the viewer with a scathing critique of inequality. Humans must love and be loved otherwise hatred and death will ensue. Surely the most depressing ending in all of cinema.

A tragic story about misdirected energy. What it lacks in depth it makes up for in heart, hitting you right in the gut. The final shot is powerful. Occasional but not insignificant moments of magical realism are peppered throughout, the center-piece being a beautiful dream sequence.

It is different from the neo-realism in the sense that it wants to become one with the plurality and irrationality of its characters. Unlike Italian neo-realism which puts a distance between its camera and its subject Bunuel wants to dig in his characters' lives wherever they go and no matter how filthy they act. The surrealist dream of Pedro is a masterwork alone but I don't think that this movie is an all time classic because there were several examples like this before and after as well.

'Realist' Bunuel isn't as great at surrealist Bunuel, but Los Olvidados' bleak portrait of impoverished crime ridden youth would have been quite confronting in 1950. The acting is above standard for this kind of film, and Bunuel packs a lot of detail into its short running time. The issue is that it's perhaps too short: there isn't enough time to develop the characters and storylines sufficiently, so the full extent of the tragedy depicted lacks the emotional impact of a film like Accattone.

Powerful film about the slums of Mexico.

an unequal society will always produce contemptible brats. buñuel seems more genuine with his leftist sentiment in a social realist vein, and while social realism has a tendency to be rather uninteresting, something this doesn't entirely escape, it's still pretty good. awesome dream sequence.

"Less controversial for the brutality of its images than for the objectivity of Buñuel's gaze, Los Olvidados purposefully lacks optimism." - Ed Gonzalez

Protip: watch one of Bunuel's other films before watching this, it adds the appreciation

It's incredible how adept Bunuel was as a realist. There naturally a lot of subtle wit, political commentary, and off-beat style, including a mesmerizing dream sequence and a little fourth-wall breaking, but even in terms of realism this film stands alone. Even still, it's the ensemble of compelling characters that really sells the movie.

Buñuel goes for an uncharacteristic sense of realism in Los Olvidados, painting the slums of Mexico City as a hopelessly bleak and unforgiving place for its young and impoverished inhabitants. It's powerful and engaging stuff, with excellent characterisation and many memorable scenes, and ultimately it's heartbreakingly tragic.

No character is outright likeable or unlikeable. The blind man is the perfect example of this. All symbolism can also be taken at face value, as part of the reality of the world. All these decisions contribute to the muddied morality at the heart of what Bunuel sees as authenticity - which may seem opposite in intent to most of Bunuel’s other work (especially leading up to this) but still feels created by the same mind. A Mexican neo realist nightmare.

Bleaker and less playful than most of Buñuel's other films, "Los Olvidados" is nevertheless one of his strongest, most observant and disturbing works. The sharp social commentary, powerful direction and the helmer's typical surrealistic touches (toned down here) mixed with raw naturalism are the ingredients of this potent examination of juvenile delinquency in Mexico City.

Buñuel's first near-masterpiece sublimates his penchant for the surreal within a bleak yet believable narrative. An ugly world of youth made tragically human with cinematic beauty and impressive acting.

A little on-the-nose at times, but for the most part it's an effective tale of urban crime amongst the lower class children. The ending is really something.

Magnificently bleak and painfully honest.

It may not be consistently great, but seemingly every scene has something brilliant within it - maybe a striking camera movement, or a bizarre detail, or an inspired misdirection. My favorite moment must be the girl who washes herself with milk.

# 109

La mejor de Buñuel

Neo-realism with a dash of the surreal. The film and its attempt to holistically portray the paralysis and self-perpetuating pain, violence and trauma of poverty and inequality is fascinating, as is its cryptic symbolism and dreamlike camerawork but, thanks to underdeveloped characters and forced melodrama the film as a whole the film is more engaging on an intellectual level than on an emotional one.

Every single person in this movie is a piece of shit and Jaibo might be the worst but if so Pedro's mother would be a close second.

Realism and surrealism all together.

Excellent unromanticised view of poverty and crime with great performances from the young cast. Buñuel does a good job with the neorealism-inspired filmmaking, but the surreal flourishes were typically my favourite moments.

w/ Buket & Gamze

A bleak, brutal, and painfully honest depiction of Mexico's failing to properly deal with its systemic poverty & crime, and how the seeds of violence are planted at an early age so as to stifle much hope for the nation's youth in escaping their plight. Subsequently it is not as enjoyable to watch as most of Buñuel's other more surrealistic works, but its true power comes from its contemporary relevance; how sad that very little has changed in Mexico. Insightful and prescient.

109

Bisiklet Hırsızları mı yoksa Los Olvidados mu ? Tabii ki Los Olvidados

A harsher presentation than one finds in Italian neo-realism of the war of all against all that occurs in a very impoverished and unequal milieu in which children lack the opportunity to be engaged in any meaningful intergenerational circuits. The moral ambiguities are presented well through complex characterisations, and, if melodrama is not completely avoided, nevertheless there are also some unusual more or less surrealistic touches that aim to lift the whole thing to a higher plane.

You want to see the most evil character in cinema history? Here.

Bunuel uten surrealismen kan også fungere! Sårt drama om fattig ungdom som forsøker å overleve i en mexicansk storby på midten av 1900-tallet. Spesielt han som spilte den eldre bad boyen i filmen gjorde en god rolle på den måten at man mislikte ham sterkt samtidig som man forstod hvorfor han var som han var, og derfor følte medynk med ham. En marerittsekvens i andre halvdel av filmen nærmer seg det Bunuel gjør med de mer surrealistiske verkene, og gir filmen det lille ekstra.

Star Rating: ★★★★★

Destructively fateful

meksiko, meksika, suç, cinayet, sokak çocuklari, serseriler, hirsizlik, gasp

Bad Luck Brian vs. Chad.

Not very engaging. A disappointment.

Gutwrenching, unflinching, a touch cynical perhaps but not unrealistic.

Os Esquecidos estreava há 70 anos no México. Ceis não imaginam há quantos anos eu esperava que esse filme saísse em alta definição, finalmente em 2020 rolou. Buñuel coloca a mão inteira na ferida com esse aqui, existe, é claro, a versão com final "feliz", mas o final original é inesquecível pela sua brutalidade sem precedentes para o ano de 1950, mesmo dentro do neo-realismo italiano que tinha por si só sua cota de crueza. WEBRip no MakingOff.

Rewatched after almost 4 years and still one of my favorites.

There aren't many films as thoroughly bleak as Los Olvidados. Bunuel's practical use of surrealism works wonders, too.

Nice Movie

Near the beginning of his Mexican exile, Luis Buñuel crafts a story about violence and poverty that is literally like no other film in it's day. Poverty does not ennoble this kids ... they are vicious and cruel, as are their victims and the people around them. Some folks try to do good, but they fail, not due to lack of trying, but because they are trying to change the these kids without changing their circumstances. A brilliant, powerful and darkly depressing film.

Buñuel in a more neorealist, less surreal mood. It's decent enough and throws some good images at you, but it's rather shallow, doesn't really pick up, and some of the drama is very unconvincing (one of the worst scenes is where Pedro's unloving mother visits him in detention. That one just doesn't work at all).

113

patrimonio de la humanidad por la UNESCO

This was good for me, quite neorealist in feel, but I don't really get the hype. It's a fine movie and well done, and there are a couple of great scenes (the dream sequence in particular is quite brilliant), but I think maybe this hit harder at the time. From what I understand it was a drastically different movie for Mexico at the time so it has a lot of historical performance, but for me it was just pretty good.

Yet another stale neorealist melodrama, complete with misplaced studio style and all the random misery you've come to expect. Given that Buñuel usually alternates between patronizing and ridiculing when it comes to social issues, it figures that the one notable sequence here is a nightmare.

Drenched in tragedy by Luis Buñuel. I falsely made myself believe in a positive turn, but then all my hopes was thrown in the ditch with the rest of the trash.

#113

Amazing

Though not as weird as any of his other works, this one still retains the same charm his other films have. The subject of this piece is just to portray every single equivalent of pure misery in film. Characters are abused here and there and the ending, which is fantastic and respectfully ends the movie, is the part that either makes or breaks the entire movie for some.