Le Ángel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel)

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  May 30, 2009

  her69eyes

  To try to find reason in "Exterminating Angel" is useless. Don't try to consider the metaphor of a bear in a well-furnished mansion - instead, however, accept that the bear is a pet. Don't try to decipher the allegory of a woman with a chicken in her purse - it's simply a woman w...( read more)ith a chicken in her purse. Only then can you embrace "Exterminating Angel", a film that doesn't bother with answers. Just as the film argues that behind the facade of proper manners lies the caveman, Bunuel's chaotic storytelling is representative of a world that doesn't exactly make much civilized sense.
  
  The evening begins simply enough. A number of elite guests enter a mansion following an opera. They arrive to such an extent, in fact, that Bunuel repeats their entrance from another camera angle. Just as the guests are arriving, a few of the cooks and servants preparing the meal plan their daring escape. A bear and a few sheep wander across the hall.
  
  After a successful dinner, the guests drink wine and mingle with the accompaniment of a piano. As morning approaches, they simply pick a spot on the floor and have a nap as if it was a slumber party. At this point, nobody really acknowledges why they didn't leave - rather, they point out how odd it is that everyone stayed.
  
  The following days, however, the guests soon realize that, for no explanation at all, they can't leave the house. They parade in front of the open door and can't bring themselves to approach it. There's an invisible line they cannot cross. In a state of panic, the guests go as far as tearing a wall apart in order to get to a water pipe. The body count rises, including a sick old man and a loving young couple. They're simply disposed of in the closet and go mostly unacknowledged - until, of course, a hand will fall out the door and scamper around.
  
  The guests, who have now hunted the sheep and cooked them over wooden furniture, begin to convert the house into a sort of Catholic church. The last scene of the film involves a group of sheep heading into another church in which, of course, nobody can leave.
  
  The film, along with "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie", is one you come to appreciate the most when it's over. It's certainly a film that expands on multiple viewings, and one whose jokes will make you laugh after the fact in reflection. What an unusual, but wonderful movie!

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  May 20, 2009

  RCCLBC

  I have to say that this is probably not eveyones "cup of tea"...but I really enjoyed it.
  Sure the basic premise has been done before to varying degrees...but you haven't seen this particular "morality tale" until you've seen it told as only Luis Bunuel can tell it.
  It is one of...( read more) those films that, the more you think about it...the more you "see".
  There is so much going on and so much "symbolism" both subtle and blatant that I think you really need to watch it more then once to really "get it".
  And even then...I think there is much that Bunuel left to "your interpretation". Which I love.

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  March 11, 2009

  rubystevens

  surrealist screwball comedy/horror. probably only buñuel could pull this off. it's complete nonsense but functions perfectly according to it's own absurd logic.

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  July 3, 2007

  columbiatch

  Luis Bunuel. cynical bastard. A weird and cruel film it certainly is. I don't quite get his sense of humor, but the whole film is a nightmare.

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  June 17, 2007

  pier007

  Buñuel's disgust for the upper classes was never more evident than here. Surreal, intriguing, claustrophobic, and riveting film about the most primitive human behaviors. A must see.

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  October 18, 2009

  ElCochran90

  - ¡Mira allí! No... ¡En la cumbre! ¿Lo ves?
  - ¡El Papa!
  - Sí, él es. ¡Qué lleno de majestad; qué solemne! Se diría un guerrero.
  
  EL ÁNGEL EXTERMINADOR (1962)
  
  Director: Luis Buñuel
  País: México
  Género:</...( read more)b> Drama / Fantasía / Misterio
  Duración: 95 minutos
  
  
  
  SPANISH REVIEW:
  
  Si bien alguna vez he visto en mi vida una directa y brillante crítica social hacia la clase alta y la burguesía, Luis Buñuel, quien es uno de mis directores gigantes del cine, es a quien debería agradecer. Me resulta un concepto bastante inteligente y bien pensado el hecho de que Buñuel, quien básicamente creó el surrealismo en el cine con su cortometraje Un Chien Andalou (1929) y con su largometraje L'Âge d'Or (1930), mezclara dicho género con su incomparable talento de dirección para crear una de las más astutas críticas a la clase alta que jamás he visto en el Séptimo Arte. El Ángel Exterminador es ciertamente la primera película surrealista de este tipo, temática que después usaría en su filmografía francesa que incluye la obra maestra Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie (1972) y Le Fantôme de la Liberté (1974). Asimismo, El Ángel Exterminador difiere de cualquier otro proyecto cinematográfico que Buñuel haya realizado en México, pues a pesar de que tenía la costumbre de añadir pequeñas pizcas de surrealismo en películas como Los Olvidados (1950) y Subida al Cielo (1952), éstas eran básicamente melodramas y El Ángel Exterminador cae ya en el género de fantasía.
  
  La película cuenta la simple historia de una lujosa fiesta exclusiva para la clase alta que se llevará a cabo por parte de Leticia, a quien comúnmente se le llama "La Valkiria". Una vez concluida la cena, los invitados desean salir de la mansión, pero para su enorme sorpresa les resulta imposible salir. Sus estándares sociales y elegantes costumbres y forma de comportamiento se ven reducidos gradualmente a los instintos más primitivos del hombre cuando se ven forzados a sobrevivir con animales y como animales con el paso del tiempo. La película fue nominada a una Palma de Oro en el Festival de Cannes, y definitivamente fue una batalla dura. Luis Buñuel merecía la nominación, pero dado el hecho de que directores como Agnés Varda por Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962), Pietro Germi por Divorzio All'italiana (1961), Michelangelo Antonioni por L'eclisse (1962) y Robert Bresson por Procés de Jeanne d'Arc (1962) competían por el premio, comprendo que no haya ganado. Sin embargo, no estoy de acuerdo con que Anselmo Duarte haya ganado por O Pagador de Promessas (1962).
  
  El Ángel Exterminador posee una dirección simplemente extraordinaria, y es en su dirección donde uno como espectador siente el completo control creativo y libertad artística de Buñuel sobre la película a diferencia de las que dirigió anteriormente. El guión y los diálogos también fueron creados por Buñuel, y funciona de una manera fantástica. Cada escena no está de sobra y, gracias al altamente adecuado ritmo de la película, encaja perfectamente en la historia. La edición es bastante decente, incluyendo en la secuencia del sueño que uno de los personajes tiene, la cual es tanto tétrica como cómica. La película posee un buen manejo de la cámara, aunque la mayoría toma parte en un espacio cerrado, el cual es la mansión de la cena. Todos los detalles están sumamente cuidados, considerando el hecho de que hay bastantes actores en escena a la vez realizando actividades diferentes antes y después de la ridícula situación difícil en la que finalmente se encuentran. Las actuaciones son muy acordes al tipo de personas que están retratando, y el show es obviamente robado completamente por Silvia Pinal, quien va adquiriendo distintas facetas conforme pasa el tiempo. A diferencia de Viridiana (1961), su personaje de "La Valkiria" se aleja del aspecto espiritual y adopta uno mucho más elegante, pero ególatra y cómico a la vez.
  
  El Ángel Exterminador es una sátira trágica llena de simbolismos e imposible fantasía. La película tiene tantas interpretaciones como número de personas que la ha visto, y es ése el tipo de obras maestras que funcionan a la perfección, sobre todo cuando es decisión misma del director dejar el significado a la interpretación abierta de cada persona. Es por ello que haré énfasis en un punto importante: Todas las ideas que esté a punto de expresar en el siguiente comentario son mi propia interpretación del filme, las cuales pueden ser puestas a discusión, pues gran parte de la magia de este maravilloso proyecto surrealista se origina de esa posibilidad.
  
  La trama no solamente está manejada con un humor sofisticado, sino con una irreverente absurdez de los aspectos más bajos de la sociedad lujosa. Nosotros siendo tan inactivos mentalmente y menos críticos con el paso del tiempo, Buñuel probablemente utilizó elementos exagerados (algunas veces hasta infantiles) para clarificar el extremo ridículo que quería representar, convirtiendo a la burguesía que los estándares sociales han hecho "respetable" en algo de lo que todo mundo podría burlarse. La incapacidad de los burgueses de salir del cuarto puede ser interpretado como un elemento cómico que involuntariamente "justifica" las atrocidades que la Iglesia ha cometido durante tantos siglos en la historia de la humanidad, pues a pesar de que dentro del grupo podemos encontrar a doctores y coroneles de guerra, la Iglesia tiene una pesada influencia como protagonista implícito. La religión no se salva de la blasfemia. En los libros de Moisés en el Antiguo Testamento principalmente, se hacen constantes referencias al ritual de sacrificios llevado a cabo por los sacerdotes, lo cual conllevaba a un proceso de purificación. También se menciona como la gente sin la presencia de Dios en su vida suele ser como ovejas sin pastor. Ello me trae a la mente la escena final, en donde una masacre está tomando a lugar en las calles mientras la Iglesia se ve sujeta a la misma maldición, así como sus seguidores, estando separados de la sociedad. La pérdida de la virginidad resulta en liberación y epifanía, y las ovejas pueden simbolizar a la gente literalmente dirigiéndose hacia un matadero. Asimismo, esta incapacidad simboliza la idiotez sin fondo en que la clase alta suele caer una vez que sus propias personalidades permiten ser absorbidas en el orgullo y en la falsa imagen de superioridad que ciegamente consideran tener sobre el resto de la sociedad. Cuando se ven forzados a salir de sus propios mundos, los cuales son representados físicamente en el cuarto en el que se encuentran atrapados como leones enjaulados, simplemente se niegan a hacerlo y recurren a todo medio posible, sin importar qué tan ridículo éste resulte ser, para permanecer en ellos. La principal razón puede ser el orgullo que poseen, a pesar de que las motivaciones de los personajes jamás son explicadas claramente.
  
  El Ángel Exterminador puede resultar una película controversial y sumamente ofensiva para cierta gente por su alto grado de burla y sátira brillante. Es interesante el contexto en que Buñuel dirigió esta película, pues justo después de haber representado la pobreza en su más gráfico detalle, se va al extremo opuesto, tratando la constante lucha entre clases sociales como un tema principal. Buñuel consideró a El Ángel Exterminador como uno de sus fracasos, pues afirma que de haberla podido hacer en París, hubiera hecho que los personajes incluso llegaran a extremos más intensos. Sin embargo, la idea claramente se entiende, y considero a esta película mejor que cualquier otra surrealista que haya realizado en el futuro sin considerar al corto Un Chien Andalou (1929). Gracias a Viridiana (1961), Buñuel se convirtió en uno de los directores blasfemos más controversiales de su época siendo censurado (irónicamente) por la Iglesia, y con El Ángel Exterminador sus ideas son establecidas y fortalecidas justo antes de que volviera a Francia. El Ángel Exterminador es una obra maestra maravillosamente absurda y graciosamente única en su género.
  
  100/100
  
  ENGLISH REVIEW:
  
  If I have actually seen a brilliant and very direct social criticism about the upper and bourgeois class before, Luis Buñuel, who is one of my giant directors of cinema, is the guy who I should really thank. The fact that Buñuel, who basically gave birth to surrealism in cinema with his short film Un Chien Andalou (1929) and his feature film L'Âge d'Or (1930), mixed this genre with his incomparable direction talent for creating one of the smartest criticisms aimed towards the upper class I have ever seen in the history of the Seventh Art is a highly intelligent and well-thought concept for me. El Ángel Exterminador is certainly the first surrealist film of this kind, a thematic element that he will later use frequently in his French filmography which includes the masterpiece Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie (1972) and Le Fantôme de la Liberté (1974). Also, El Ángel Exterminador differs from any other cinematographic project that Buñuel completed while being in Mexico, since although he had the habit of adding little and brief sequences of surrealism in his films such as in Los Olvidados (1950) and Subida al Cielo (1952), these movies were basically melodramas and El Ángel Exterminador falls already into the genre of fantasy as a film.
  
  The movie itself has a very simple story about a luxurious party, exclusively aimed for the upper class that would be organized by Leticia, who is commonly named "La Valkiria" for funny reasons mentioned in the film. Once that the dinner has concluded, the guests desire to leave the mansion, but as surprising and unbelievable as it may seem, they just find it impossible to get out. Their social standards and elegant habits and behavior manners are gradually reduced to the most primitive instincts of man when they are forced to survive like animals and with animals with the pass of time. The movie was nominated for a Golden Palm in the Cannes Film Festival, and it was definitely a very tough battle. Luis Buñuel deserved the nomination, but since directors such as Agnés Varda for Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962), Pietro Germi for Divorzio All'italiana (1961), Michelangelo Antonioni for L'eclisse (1962) and Robert Bresson for Procés de Jeanne d'Arc (1962) were competing for the prize, I understand that Buñuel hadn't won. However, I disagree with Anselmo Duarte winning the award for his film O Pagador de Promessas (1962).
  
  El Ángel Exterminador has a simply extraordinary direction by Buñuel, and it is in his direction where one as a spectator is able to feel the complete creative control and artistic freedom that he had over the movie unlike the films he previously directed. The script and the dialogues were also created by Buñuel and all of them work fantastically. Each scene was necessary and, thanks to the highly adequate pace of the film, perfectly fit into the story. The editing is pretty much decent, including the dream sequence that one of the characters has, which is dismal just as it is comical. The movie has a great camera handle considering that most of the film takes place in a closed space, which is the mansion where the dinner was held. Every single detail is extremely taken care of, considering the fact that there are several actors in a scene at once making different activities before and after the utterly ridiculous and difficult situation in which they finally end up being. The performances are accurate according to the kind of people the cast is portraying, and obviously the show is completely stolen by Silvia Pinal, who begins to acquire several facets as time goes by. Unlike Viridiana (1961), her character of "La Valkiria" steps away from the spiritual aspect and adopts a much more elegant, but self-worshiping and comical one at the same time.
  
  El Ángel Exterminador is a tragic satire full of symbolisms and impossible fantasy. The movie can have as many interpretations as the number of people that have seen it, and that is the kind of masterpieces that work at their most perfect way, especially when it is the director's decision to leave the meaning of the film to the open interpretation of its audience. That is why I will make emphasis in a very important point: Every single idea that I am about to express in the following review are based on my own interpretation of the film, which can be, of course, put to discussion, since most of the magic of this wonderful surrealist project comes from that possibility.
  
  The story is not only handled with a sophisticated humor, but with an irreverent absurdity about the most degrading aspects of the luxurious society. Due to the fact that we get more mentally inactive and less critical with each new generation, Buñuel probably utilized exaggerated elements (some of them even childish) for clarifying the extreme ridicule he wanted to represent, converting the bourgeoisie that the social standards have turned it into something "respectable" into something that the whole world could laugh at. The incapacity of the bourgeoisies to get out of the room can be interpreted as a comical element that involuntarily "justifies" the atrocities that the Church has committed during several centuries in the history of humanity, since although inside the bourgeois group people such as doctors and war coronels can be found, the Church has a very heavy influence as an implicit protagonist. Religion isn't excluded from blasphemy. Principally in the books of Moses found in the Old Testament, constant references towards the rituals of sacrifices executed by the priests are made, which lead to a process of purification. It is also mentioned how people tend to be like lambs without a shepherd when absent from the presence of God in their lives. This detail brings to my mind the final scene, in which a massacre is being held in the streets while the Church is being subject to the same curse, just like its followers, being separated from the rest of the society. The loss of virginity ends up in epiphany and liberation, and the sheep can symbolize the people literally walking towards an abattoir. Likewise, this incapacity symbolizes the bottomless idiocy in which the upper class tends to fall into once that their own personalities allow themselves to be literally absorbed by pride and by the false image of superiority that they blindly consider to have above the rest of the society. When they are finally forced to get out of their own little worlds, which are physically represented in the room in which they are trapped just like caged lions, they simply refuse to do it and resort to any possible solution in order to avoid doing it, no matter how ridiculous it ends up being. The main reason may be the pride they possess, although the motivations of the characters are never explicitly shown.
  
  El Ángel Exterminador can be a very controversial and extremely offensive movie for certain kind of people because of its high level of mockery and brilliant satire. The context in which Buñuel directed this film is interesting, because right after he represented poverty in its most graphic detail, he goes to the extreme opposite, treating the constant struggle between social classes as a main topic. Buñuel considered El Ángel Exterminador as one of his greatest failures, since he affirms that if he had done it in Paris, he would have taken the characters towards much more intense extremes. However, the main idea is clearly understood, and I consider this film better than any other surrealist film he had directed in the future without considering his short film Un Chien Andalou (1929). Thanks to Viridiana (1961), Buñuel became one of the most blasphemous and controversial directors of his time being (ironically) censored by the Church and, with El Ángel Exterminador, his ideas were solidly established and strengthened right before he returned to France. El Ángel Exterminador is a marvelously absurd and hilariously unique comedy masterpiece, unique within its genre.
  
  100/100

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  July 17, 2009

  rojastortu

  It reminds me of The Lord of the Flies, and it seems as if Saramago based on this movie for some moments in his novel Blindness. I say that because they all explore the loss of "Humanity" under certain conditions, when there's no authority, no rules, and no food. Though this is a...( read more) very bizarre and confusing movie, its brilliance hsa no comparisson.
  With a witty dialogue, and so many interesting characters is a movie you would watch from beginning to the end without getting bored, it doesn't matter that nothing REALLY important happens. Another Buñuel masterpiece.

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  July 15, 2009

  addienairzan

  Such an irony. So ironic it is strangely funny.

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  July 14, 2009

  galeriadeshuy

  Aquí ya no es una crítica sutíl, sino una bofetada con guante negro a la burguesía.
  Un grupo de burgueses son invitados a una cena de gala después de un concierto de ópera.
  Tiempo para que después inexplicablemente ningúno pueda salir de un salón de la casa, tiempo suficiente p...( read more)ara que olviden los buenos modales y se conviertan en auténticas bestias.
  Personas que se dejan llevar más por la etiqueta y no por lo que realmente son.
  Aquí don Luis juega como si nos estuviera hipnotizando, repitiendo escenas desde diferentes ángulos, para que nos demos cuenta con ese reflejo de cosas que a la primera no observamos.

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  June 6, 2009

  mayorcrunch

  "El Angel Exterminador" es una pesadilla kafkiana que lentamente nos seduce en su estudio de la condicion humana. Me recordo un poco a la reciente y poco valorada "Blindness" donde igualmente un grupo de personas es aislada contra su voluntad sin muchas explicaciones.
  En esta c...( read more)inta vemos la magnifica direccion de Luis Buñuel, el cual siempre mostro una fascinacion con el lado perverso del hombre (como olvidar su joya surrealista, "Un Chien Andalou", en la cual colaboro con el gran Salvador Dali).
  "El Angel Exterminador" es una cinta fascinante del cine mexicano, en una epoca donde verdaderos artistas (como Buñuel o Jodorowski) podian fusionar su vision con la de nuestra cultura. Muy recomendable.

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