Flickhead is hosting a Buñuel blog-a-thon this week, with postings on famous and obscure Buñuelian objects of desire. From the intro:
Few filmmakers have held my attention, respect and admiration for as long or as deeply as Luis Buñuel. For years I’ve thought of him as my ‘favorite’ director, mostly due to a personal connection I feel with his attitudes, humor and outlook. A surrealist, a wandering spirit, a cynic, a recovering Catholic…Buñuel used the cinema to explore these areas and took special delight in society’s inexorable draw to the seven deadly sins—especially pride, lust and greed. Among the very few masters capable of channeling elevated social and cultural criticisms into popular cinema, he took aim at the whole of humanity, recognizing the folly of our desires.My contributions are previous posts about the relationships between Jonathan Glazer's "Birth" and "Un Chien Andalou" ("'Birth' of a Buñuelian notion") and Buñuel's autobiography, "My Last Sigh."
Jim, MANY thanks for the mention!!
Bunuel was a bigot! If any filmmaker made films attacking Muslims or Jews, the way he mocked Catholics, they would be shunned from the film community.
David: Bunuel was raised in a Catholic country, but I'm sure he hated all dogmatic systems equally, including Islam and Judaism. He was widely reviled for his anti-Catholicism -- with the notable exception of "Nazarin," which was chosen by the Vatican as an exemplary film about religion:
http://cinepad.com/vatican.htm
But, you're right, we desperately need more Muslim and Jewish filmmakers who display the provocational, iconoclastic wit of Bunuel, and who aren't afraid to be called "bigots." Even though they would be shunned and maybe killed. The ironies of martyrdom!
Please, please...
Muslims are Catholics.
Jews are Catholics.
Trust me, I'm know.
But I have my doubts.
Luis,
You're a bastard. You never did answer the most important question of all. If the host is the body of Christ, what happens to Jesus after you swallow him?