*Professors comments appear at end of each student comment between brackets.
Much of the supplementary characters felt way underdeveloped for them to be impactful or invoke a sense of empathy from the audience. Regardless, the director stuck true to the realist principles in showcasing his window of truth for Mexico’s children who are dealing with poverty. [I like the balance criticism contained in this comment.]
Buñuel paints a distinctly dark vision of reality in Los olvidados. As he puts forward at the outset, no major city is free from poverty. But he goes further, arguing through his film that not only is poverty a cyclical institution, but the world around it is rotten to its very core. He sees at present no way forward, no way to address these issues, and the film leaves us with the impression that these struggles may never end. [This comment exemplifies very nicely Zavattini’s conviction that to expose social problems without proposing solutions to them is in itself quite significant.]
Here, Buñuel achieves showing his audience how letting go of the issues and forgetting them like they never existed, as happened with Pedro’s body, does nothing to change society’s problems. By including the entire scene, the bigger problem has been addressed. [I like the use of specific detail in the film to suggest a more general, universal message.]
There were hints that Julián lived with his mother and his father (Julián expressed that his mother was worried when he picked up his father). Ojitos is taken under the wing by the Blind Man, and Pedro lives only with his mother. [I like the astuteness of this observation, and when we remember that Jaibo tells Pedro’s mom that he was an orphan, we start to see a glimpse of critical position emerging in the storyline of the film.]
Similar to Bicycle Thieves, the title is plural and could be a tale of many people—therefore showing the neo-realist trait of collectivity. It is also very socially pessimistic in terms of narration as the plot is very gloomy and cynical. [I like the way that this comment contrasts Los olvidados with Bicycle Thieves and is both specific and general.]
Specifically, Buñuel tries to demonstrate how these children claimed and hung onto the little power that they had. [Consider how this is amplified further in City of God.]
Constant motion of the camera was a staple of Los olvidados. Zooms in and out, as well as panning, were used in almost every shot, giving the film a feeling of urgency. [I like the way this comment ascribes a particular effect to the cinematographic techniques described.]
The film opens with a statement that the movie is based upon real life and all of the characters are authentic. This is a theme of Neo-realism—to tell actual stories of the poor and working class. [I like the way that this comment connects the stated objective of the film to the explicit objective of neo-realism as stated by Zavattini.]
During a critical scene in the movie, music was heard that heightened the emotions ofthe viewer. When Jaibo attacked Julian with a rock which is a volatile moment by itself, the soundtrack even more so increased the intensity and tension of the moment. [I like the specificity of this comment, which starts with a general statement and follows it with a specific example.]
Buñuel effectively uses both neorealist practices of stark reality and surreal elements to create a moving film about poverty. [I like the way this comment identifies two unique styles of the film.]
With the exception of Jaibo’s murder of Julian, all of the morally questionable acts occur in the nighttime. Obviously a morally repulsive act, the murder is filmed in broad daylight, with no intention of obscuring the act’s depravity. [I like the astuteness of this observation.]
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