Los Olvidados (Bunuel, 1950)

Los Olvidados (Bunuel, 1950) - #TSPDT #109

A boy from the slums tries to escape his fate as a criminal but it keeps coming back at him.

It was an amazing watch and the depressing feeling already eminent in the beginning got worse during the course of the film.

There is the incessant knocking of evil on the door throughout this film. Although the movie itself feels pretty upbeat in a way - which might have to do that most of the characters accept their fate and try to make the best of it. The only thing that sets the hero really apart from the others, is his respect towards other people - even if there is only very little. And although we try to sympathize with him, the scene in the correction facility with the hens shows, that - even though not without hope - he is already pretty far advanced on the path towards doom. (There's a thing with chicken and evil)
The evil boy - lustful, revengeful, hateful and enticing at the same time - is definitively a great villain to hate and, funnily enough, I really longed for him to get punished. I wonder if it's easier to hate the bad guy than admiring the hero - or is it just easier to summon the mean into a character, maybe because there are so many sources to draw from.

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