This is an astounding movie, and it's also one of Bunuel's most accessible films...
The only problem I can find with this movie is that there are no good DVD copy's as far as i know. In the copy I watched, the subs were nearly unreadable in spots and the film had faded badly. Even with those problems, it's clear that this is one of his best movies. Maybe not in his top 5, but certainly in the top 8.
Death in the garden is action packed. There's almost too much social commentary to call it a simple action film, but in every other way, that's what it is. This is a movie packed with emotional violence, physical violence, lurid sexuality (for the time)... Blood sweat tears and constant tension.. I think this may be the only Buñuel film with a protracted massive gun battle, and it's shot expertly. That scene alone proves without a doubt that Buñuel could have went to Hollywood and made big budget commercial films if he had wanted too. His command of cinematic technique would have put him right up there with the best of them, no matter what kind of movie he was working on.
But don't get the wrong idea, this is still a Bunuel film in every way. It's full of social commentary, it has touches of surrealism, his shooting style is just as awesome as it's always been and the script is as sharp as a knife.
This film has some of Bunuel's best characters ever. Sometimes the people in his movies serve as symbols for certain classes of people... Archetypal personalities... The characters from "Death in the garden" are molded to fit into certain category's, but they are more complex and multidimensional than usual. The moral Quandaries they face are difficult and the choices they make are always interesting. He's still examining the whole human race through the lens of a few characters, but his examination is more even handed than usual, and the characters are VERY memorable.
In the end though, I would say this movie has a very pessimistic view of humanity. It's a movie full of meanness, savagery, and betrayal. Even the more likable characters are portrayed as mostly useless because of their lack of initiative. The second half of this film brings to mind the disintegration into animal behavior that you see in "The Exterminating Angel"...
I could probably write for hours... Just suffice to say that this is one of his better works and it should be viewed more often... Hopefully someone like criterion will release this soon. It deserves to be re-discovered.
The only problem I can find with this movie is that there are no good DVD copy's as far as i know. In the copy I watched, the subs were nearly unreadable in spots and the film had faded badly. Even with those problems, it's clear that this is one of his best movies. Maybe not in his top 5, but certainly in the top 8.
Death in the garden is action packed. There's almost too much social commentary to call it a simple action film, but in every other way, that's what it is. This is a movie packed with emotional violence, physical violence, lurid sexuality (for the time)... Blood sweat tears and constant tension.. I think this may be the only Buñuel film with a protracted massive gun battle, and it's shot expertly. That scene alone proves without a doubt that Buñuel could have went to Hollywood and made big budget commercial films if he had wanted too. His command of cinematic technique would have put him right up there with the best of them, no matter what kind of movie he was working on.
But don't get the wrong idea, this is still a Bunuel film in every way. It's full of social commentary, it has touches of surrealism, his shooting style is just as awesome as it's always been and the script is as sharp as a knife.
This film has some of Bunuel's best characters ever. Sometimes the people in his movies serve as symbols for certain classes of people... Archetypal personalities... The characters from "Death in the garden" are molded to fit into certain category's, but they are more complex and multidimensional than usual. The moral Quandaries they face are difficult and the choices they make are always interesting. He's still examining the whole human race through the lens of a few characters, but his examination is more even handed than usual, and the characters are VERY memorable.
In the end though, I would say this movie has a very pessimistic view of humanity. It's a movie full of meanness, savagery, and betrayal. Even the more likable characters are portrayed as mostly useless because of their lack of initiative. The second half of this film brings to mind the disintegration into animal behavior that you see in "The Exterminating Angel"...
I could probably write for hours... Just suffice to say that this is one of his better works and it should be viewed more often... Hopefully someone like criterion will release this soon. It deserves to be re-discovered.