Purely Joyful Movie!

i must have seen a different film!!

Fantastic!

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

I found this Mexican - Spanish language film listed in the book 1001 Movies You See Before You Die, it was rated very highly by critics, so I was hoping it would be another deserved entry like many others I've seen, directed by Luis Buñuel (Land Without Bread, Viridiana, Belle de Jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie). Basically, set in a Mexico City slum, this film shows the lives and misfortunes of a group of juvenile delinquents. Specifically it focuses on young Pedro (Alfonso Mejía), living in a world of poverty and the streets filled with crime and violence his morals are gradually corrupted an destroyed by the various characters' intimidation and cruelty. Also starring Estela Inda as Mother, Roberto Cobo as Jaibo, Jesús García Navarro as The Lost Boy, Miguel Inclán as The Blind Man, Alma Delia Fuentes as The Young Girl and Francisco Jambrina as The Principal. I will be honest and say that I could not keep up with everything going on whilst also reading subtitles, but I think to be there's not a lot I can say anyway, but it is a well observed film with some surreal moments, but a feeling of humanity throughout and many moments that get your attention, a worthwhile drama. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best Film from any Source and the UN Award. Very good!

After his exile from his native Spain, director Luis Bunuel moved to Mexico in 1946, gaining citizenship in 1949. It was here where he would make his more generic films (by his standards), as he honed his own directorial skill while never straying too far from his surrealistic background. After the success of his comedy The Great Madcap (1949), he was commissioned by producer Oscar Dancigers to make a serious film about child poverty in Mexico City, and out of it came Los Olvidados, or The Young and the Innocent, to give it it's American title. Bunuel apparently spent months disguised as a homeless amongst the poverty- stricken children of the slums in order to research, and if that tale is true, it certainly came off, as Los Olvidados is one of the best and most realistic depictions of the innocent turning to crime in a fit of desperation.The film follows three children in the same slum. Pedro (Alfonso Mejia) is a young tearaway who wants to change his ways and work, in order to help out his mother who neglects him due to her constant work. 'Little Eyes' (Mario Ramirez) has been abandoned by his father, and is adopted by the blind beggar Don Carmelo (Miguel Inclan), a bitter man who frequently voices his opinions on the young criminals of the city. El Jaibo (Robert Cobo) has just been released from prison and immediately sets about gaining revenge of the boy he thinks ratted him out. Jaibo and Pedro corner the boy, only for Jaibo to bludgeon him to death, and the two boys flee. Pedro struggles to keep himself out of trouble and leaves home after being accused of stealing a knife, only to find his and Jaibo's paths repeatedly crossing.At its heart, this is pure neo-realism, sharing its tone most obviously with Vittorio de Sica's masterpiece The Bicycle Thieves (1948) in exposing poverty and class divide as the main cause of criminality, due to the ill education and the hopelessness of the young. Although, out of nowhere, comes a surrealistic dream sequence so beautiful, and so haunting, that you know you're watching Bunuel, and his artistic creativity seems to bulge from the screen. Best known for his mocking of the upper-classes (the bourgeois were clearly as fascinating to Bunuel as they were repugnant), here he stays in the slums, promoting as much sympathy for its filthy lead characters as hatred.Jaibo is a true monster, raised without parents, he bullies his way through life, grasping any opportunity that presents itself (he even manages to seduce Pedro's lonely and overworked mother, and rob a legless man). It is Pedro who is the beating heart of the film, especially when he leaves home and we witness the state of the lower- classes from his eyes and how they are viewed (in one powerful sequence, an upper class man obviously propositions him for sex, but we only see their exchange, as we watch them through a window). Bunuel then manages to deliver not one, but two sensational endings, that manage to move and shock as much as the famous and upsetting climax to Bicycle Thieves. Bunuel would go to France to create his greatest works, but Los Olvidados displays many of the attributes that made Bunuel one of the most important directors in the history of film, as well as being a great film in its own right.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

I like how Bunuel takes a common problem, injects it with dream like surrealism and give it a whole new meaning. In this film Bunuel addresses the problem of children living in poverty with poor or no family ties. We see through the children's eyes, what it's like to live on the streets in big City. Without proper role models, the children turn to El Jaibo who has just escaped from reform school. One of my favorite scenes is when Pedro breaks the 4th wall by throwing an egg at the camera. The egg is indeed on our faces.Unfortunately, sixty years later, this film is still relevant to problems children face today.

"Los Olvidados" is a film about poverty and juvenile crime in the poor parts Mexico City. This film shows how young boys and how there lives are lived when you live in Poverty and how hard it is to survive on a day to day bases in a rough part of a city. the film shows how all boys are different when you do not have the best situation in life. Some boy's have to steal Some boy's have to work at a young age. some boy's have to kill to get what they want.When you are living poor, work comes first then education, but with out education you are killing yourself for the long run. Nothing is easy in life! If you ain't trying to survive then you ain't trying to live.