Death In The Garden (12A.)
Directed by Luis Bunuel. 1956.
Starring Simone Signoret, Charles Vanel, Georges Marchal, Michel Piccoli, Tito Junco, Raúl Ramírez and Michele Giradon. Released on Blu-ray by Eureka as part of their Masters Of Cinema series.
Luis Bunuel was without question a master of cinema, and his mastery popped up over vast chunks of the middle part of the Twentieth century, from the late twenties to the mid seventies. In amongst the classics though there were long periods of buckling down and making ends meet. So when a Bunuel film you've never heard of drops through the letterbox, I think it's reasonable to be a little sceptical about claims to it being “A surrealistic tour de force.”
And surrealism is in short supply but there is plenty of political bite and cynicism in this tale of western adventurers and opportunists trying to get ahead, or just stay alive, in a South America town under harsh military rule. Trouble starts when the military announce that all the diamond prospecting is to be nationalised and grabbed by the Government. The protest by the mostly foreign prospectors leads to the imposition of Marshall law. In amongst the chaos we follow the stories of five foreigners: Vanel, an aging prospector looking to get back to France with his mute daughter, Giradon; amoral adventurer Marchal; prostitute Sigornet and priest Piccoli.
The film is divided into two distinct halves. The first half is a gripping story of frontier life, and the vagaries of living under military rule, following a wide cross section of characters. In the second half the focus is narrowed down into a small group trying to survive in the jungle. Bunuel is nobody's idea of an action director but he keeps the plot moving at a fair pace and it looks great, shot in the rich shades of Eastmancolor.
If you didn't know I doubt you would twig that it was a Bunuel film, though you might notice that its tone was a bit more cynical and just a touch crueler than most other tales of jungle adventure from the period. Predictably the priest has the worst time, constantly having his hypocrisy exposed and his dignity stripped. Piccoli though plays him as well meaning and sincere, which makes the jibes that bit more effective. The second half is more distinctively Bunuel, a black comedy of hopes raised and then dashed.
Extras.
A new interview with Tony Rayns
An interview with actor Michel Piccoli
An interview with film scholar Victor Fuentes
Masters of Cinema exclusive trailer
A booklet featuring a new essay by Philip Kemp, and archival imagery
'
Directed by Luis Bunuel. 1956.
Starring Simone Signoret, Charles Vanel, Georges Marchal, Michel Piccoli, Tito Junco, Raúl Ramírez and Michele Giradon. Released on Blu-ray by Eureka as part of their Masters Of Cinema series.
Luis Bunuel was without question a master of cinema, and his mastery popped up over vast chunks of the middle part of the Twentieth century, from the late twenties to the mid seventies. In amongst the classics though there were long periods of buckling down and making ends meet. So when a Bunuel film you've never heard of drops through the letterbox, I think it's reasonable to be a little sceptical about claims to it being “A surrealistic tour de force.”
And surrealism is in short supply but there is plenty of political bite and cynicism in this tale of western adventurers and opportunists trying to get ahead, or just stay alive, in a South America town under harsh military rule. Trouble starts when the military announce that all the diamond prospecting is to be nationalised and grabbed by the Government. The protest by the mostly foreign prospectors leads to the imposition of Marshall law. In amongst the chaos we follow the stories of five foreigners: Vanel, an aging prospector looking to get back to France with his mute daughter, Giradon; amoral adventurer Marchal; prostitute Sigornet and priest Piccoli.
The film is divided into two distinct halves. The first half is a gripping story of frontier life, and the vagaries of living under military rule, following a wide cross section of characters. In the second half the focus is narrowed down into a small group trying to survive in the jungle. Bunuel is nobody's idea of an action director but he keeps the plot moving at a fair pace and it looks great, shot in the rich shades of Eastmancolor.
If you didn't know I doubt you would twig that it was a Bunuel film, though you might notice that its tone was a bit more cynical and just a touch crueler than most other tales of jungle adventure from the period. Predictably the priest has the worst time, constantly having his hypocrisy exposed and his dignity stripped. Piccoli though plays him as well meaning and sincere, which makes the jibes that bit more effective. The second half is more distinctively Bunuel, a black comedy of hopes raised and then dashed.
Extras.
A new interview with Tony Rayns
An interview with actor Michel Piccoli
An interview with film scholar Victor Fuentes
Masters of Cinema exclusive trailer
A booklet featuring a new essay by Philip Kemp, and archival imagery
'
