A black man on the run from being accused of rape washes up on an island occupied by some strange Bunuel characters.
Bunuel had taken to being controversial in more subtle ways at this time. Here the strangeness does not involve people's eyes being sliced open (Un Chien Andalou) or toes licked (L'Age d'Or) but in the fact that the island's natives are a middle-aged man and a 13-year old girl (or so, her age isn't given) he has some creepy intentions towards.
There is at times a salaciousness to Bunuel's gaze, in the shots of the girl's thighs, or one where she adjusts a towel around her chest. Hopefully this experience didn't have anything to do with the young girl deciding not to become an actress.
The film can be quite confronting: about child abuse, bitter truths about racism. In 1960, the civil rights movement was just about to take off, and race relations were in a bad place in America, so Bunuel's film must have been quite powerful at the time. In 2015 it no longer feels revolutionary in terms of its take on race relations, but its depiction of child abuse is still shocking. It feels like one of Bunuel's more focused films, telling a simple story with vivid characters and a powerful message.
Bunuel had taken to being controversial in more subtle ways at this time. Here the strangeness does not involve people's eyes being sliced open (Un Chien Andalou) or toes licked (L'Age d'Or) but in the fact that the island's natives are a middle-aged man and a 13-year old girl (or so, her age isn't given) he has some creepy intentions towards.
There is at times a salaciousness to Bunuel's gaze, in the shots of the girl's thighs, or one where she adjusts a towel around her chest. Hopefully this experience didn't have anything to do with the young girl deciding not to become an actress.
The film can be quite confronting: about child abuse, bitter truths about racism. In 1960, the civil rights movement was just about to take off, and race relations were in a bad place in America, so Bunuel's film must have been quite powerful at the time. In 2015 it no longer feels revolutionary in terms of its take on race relations, but its depiction of child abuse is still shocking. It feels like one of Bunuel's more focused films, telling a simple story with vivid characters and a powerful message.