The Young and the Damned (1950)

The critic praises Buñuel's potent exposé of depravity in the slums, which takes neo-realism into surrealist territory and refuses easy solutions or judgment. The film is described as a shattering indictment of social indifference that retains its original power.

Buñuel’s early masterpiece is operatic in its tragedy yet steadfast in its realism, a retort to hopeful movies that presented juvenile delinquency as easily overcome by love and sentiment. Poverty is shown as a dehumanizing cycle, with the film attacking the sadness that ruins children before they have a chance.

The critic praises the film's defiant lack of sentimentality in depicting the brutal lives of Mexico City street kids and its blend of neorealism with Buñuel's surrealist elements, especially a memorable dream sequence. It is called a masterpiece that powerfully exposes social and individual ills without offering easy resolutions.

Buñuel's 1950 film, restored for a NFT season, is a rough-and-ready portrait of street kids in Mexico City that stands out for its metaphysical and surreal dimensions beyond mere social realism. The critic highlights the famous dream sequence and poetic flourishes as what make it riveting.

The critic praises Buñuel's objective, unsentimental portrayal of Mexico City street children and the film's intense focus on isolation and societal neglect. He singles out the director's powerful visual style, including a memorable mock bullfight sequence and a disturbing dream scene, for heightening the emotional impact.

The film is an objective, unrelenting closeup of life among delinquents in a Mexican slum, with no hope offered except through sweeping social changes. Buñuel has filled the picture with symbols like a terrifying blind man and bloody battles, aided by strong contrasty cinematography.

The film grapples with juvenile delinquency but the point that poverty and lack of love can reduce people to criminal despair is debatable, with too much brutality leaving little to the imagination. The atmosphere is so realistic that it startles without provoking the emotional response the effort deserves.

A brutal and unrelenting picture of poverty and juvenile crime in the slums of Mexico City is presented, assembled into a vicious and shocking melange of violence, melodrama, coincidence and irony. The director had no clear focus or point of reference for the squalid, depressing tale.

The critic praises the film's enduring power as a punchy drama with real depth, highlighting the strong performances, especially Roberto Cobo as Jaibo, and the surreal dream sequence, while noting some weaker subplots.