Simon of the Desert (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Moving pictures merely repeat what we have been told for centuries by novels and plays. Thus, a marvelous instrument for the expression of poetry and dreams (the subconscious world) is reduced to the role of simple REPEATER of stories expressed by other art forms"-Luis Buñuel.Simon of the Desert (1965) was Buñuel's final Mexican film before moving to France. His Mexican period is often considered a repository of "anti-religious" films, although a more apt description might be "anti-ecclesiastical." This 45-minute pilgrimage is an incomplete work (due to haphazard funding), but even in its truncated state, it is a shockingly substantial work.The ascetic fifteenth century Saint Simon Stylites (Claudio Brook) has spent his life atop a pillar in order to get closer to God. A wealthy patron has an even larger pillar built for the holy man and so, after six years, six months, and six days, Simon, reluctantly, comes down from atop his ivory tower, albeit briefly, to "move up" in the world. Detached irony abounds. As in Nazarin, Buñuel presents a religious figure as a fool, but a stubbornly determined fool to be identified with and admired, with detachment.Kurt Vonnegut once wrote an amusing observation about Christ and the Lazarus story. In his take on the narrative, Vonnegut imagined that, Lazarus' resurrection, it was the recent corpse, not Christ, who became the celebrity with the crowd. Leave it for the masses to look at the wrong end of a miracle every time. But, what Vonnegut was expressing was the inevitable chasm between prophet and audience.Buñuel also emphasizes contrasts. Simon's audience does not desire holiness. They crave tinseled parody only because they do not know the difference. A handless man is resorted and immediately begins using his hand to slap an inquisitive child. Bunuel's integrity and convictions astutely critique, not the faith itself, but the contemporary adherents to the faith, who, with their short attention spans, pedestrian tastes, poverties of intelligence and of aesthetics, are rendered consumers of spectacle as sacrament. Bunuel's shift from the religious to the bourgeoisie was a natural development, seen flowering here.The devil is, naturally, a woman, and Silvia Pinal agreeably fleshes her out. She takes turns as a Catholic school girl, an androgynous messiah who performs a Janet Jackson-style wardrobe malfunction for the unfazed celibate, and finally as a mini-skirted Peter Pan, whisking Saint Wendy away from his Tower of Babel to a modern discotheque.As with all of late Bunuel, he is no mere repeater of old narratives here. As St. Luis (and only a seasoned saint could be this irreverent), he spins a new parable, one that is organically textured and startling in its improvised finale. Bunuel was no hypocrite, and the unexpected loss of cash flow inspired a quixotic bleakness and an unequaled sense of purpose.*MY REVIEW ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT 366 WEIRD MOVIES.

A beautifully shot, gently satiric, and often quite funny 45 min film of a man named Simon, who stands alone atop a column, day after day, year after year trying to please God with his ascetic sacrifice. Meanwhile members of the Church come and go, trying to use Simon to their own ends. Poor peasants come, receive miracle cures, and then start to smack their children and leave without even a ‘thanks’. And finally the devil herself comes in various guises to try to tempt Simon off his tower in various odd, humorous and often quite modern ways.Ever the atheist, Bunuel doesn’t really make fun of Simon, in fact he seems to hold him with a combination of respect and pity. Respect for his strength, pity because he can never really ‘win’, and is simply torturing himself to no real end.. Bunuel seems to be drawing a sharp line between ‘faith’ and ‘religion' -- faith is seen as a noble fool's errand, religion as a truly corrupting evil.For a surrealist film, this is actually quite naturalistic in terms of the acting and many of the images. And that works well. The ending is quite odd, and was tacked on by Bunuel when he ran out of money, but the bizzare twist actually works, even if it is a bit more obvious than the movie that preceded it.(mild spoilers ahead)In the end, Simon could stand up there forever, but the world, with it’s lusts and selfishness will continue on, and I think Bunuel sees that as both good and bad. The pleasures of the flesh aren’t in themselves evil. It’s man’s inability not to be cruel and violent that’s the real problem -- and that’s no more dealt with by standing alone on a column in the desert 2000 years ago, then by dancing the night away at a disco in modern day. But at least the dancing is fun.(end spoilers)Some critics see this as Bunuel's greatest masterpiece, his purest expression of his deepest ideas. I’m not quite there, at least on 1st viewing, but I’m not far away either.Criterion's transfer is terrific, and while I'd love to see this beautifully shot film get a blu-ray release this excellent DVD will certainly do.

criterion collection usually brings us masterpieces of cinema in the best possible shape,and they did the same with this classi somebody who has enjoyed the works of Bunuel( or criterion dvds) can be grateful with this edition, affordable, beautiful, full of nice extras,ectsolo lamento el hecho de que los dvd de criterion no tiene subtitulos en espanol, solo en eeuu mas de cuarenta millones de personas hablan espanol, (que es el tercer idioma mas hablado en el mundo, el primero es el mandarin y el cuarto solo lo hablan en la india asi que solo el ingles y el espanol son idiomas universales)cuando les pondran subtitulos en espanol a las maravillosas ediciones de criterion?

Is this Bunuel's greatest film? No, not by any stretch. (For me personally that would be Exterminating Angel.) But it offers his classic take on religious hypocrisies in a brisk 45 minutes. The reaction when Simon produces his first miracle especially is one of the great moments in film. (Really, there are so many wonderful small Bunuelian touches. His take on the "priesthood" is hilarious.) I could go on, but it's 45 minutes, just watch the damn thing!Thank you to Criterion for the flawless print. The film looks and sounds pristine!

Es muy buena edición, con sumo respeto, creo, al original. El imagen y el sonido no están re-masterizados demasiado. Me ha gustado mucho el criterio del productor. El documentario adjunto nos trae valiosas informaciones. Especialmente me encantó la entrevista de Silvia Pinal. En fin, Buñuel se habrá quedado muy bien con esta edición.

Excellent! A Classic! Thank you! A+++++

Needless to say that this Criterion release is a delight for Bunuel fanatics like me. The quality of the transfer is fantastic as is the one hour documentary covering Bunuel's Mexican years. The short film itself exhibits Bunuel's fascination with religion as does the earlier Nazarin. In this case we have a man who decides to curry favour with God by standing on top of a column for year after year, occasionally "tormented" by the devil but resolute (or is he?). Other characters include local peasants, a religous order and a dwarf who is a bit too close to his animals (goat herder or goat botherer?). Suffice to say that most of the film is taken up with Simon and his pole, various dreams, the occasional miracle and religous intoxication. But it's the last five minutes that propels this film into another dimension (literally).

This has always been a great film, so it is encouraging to see it so well presented by Criterion. The two extras are fascinating with Silvia Pinel giving some extra information about how the film was so short.

Definitely not for everyone. In fact this one may be more appreciated by fans of Luis Bunuel's films in general. Watch this if you relate with his particular point of view. Quirky, humorous and very odd.

Excellent film + very interesting documentary.