The Young One (1960) - Luis Buñuel

Buñuel, at the beginning of the 60s was getting closer and closer to his return to European lands, the Mexican stage of the director is coming to an end, the so-called alimentary films are running out, the atypical film exercises will stop happening, the genius from Calanda was about to explode in all his dimensions. In this remarkable film, Buñuel returns to work with English-speaking actors, and that is again associated with screenwriter Hugo Butler and producer George Pepper, with whom he had already materialized Robinson Crusoe (1954), and, as so many other times, adapts the director a literary work, a short story by Peter Matthiessen, "Travellin' Man", The Traveler. It is the story of a black man, escaping from a rape accusation against a white woman, taking refuge on an island, where he will meet a white man, who takes care of a young girl, whom he wishes and will rape; the three will live singular and unthinkable situation, facing problems such as racism, but can at last coexist, while other people arrive on the island. A very interesting work by Buñuel, the filmmaker himself spoke of how much this film carried his main themes, but now adding some very novel topics, according to the industry of the individuals involved in the materialization of this unique film of the great Iberian master.

                     

The action begins with a boat, a black man arrives to an island, he escapes from chase against him; on the island lives Miller (Zachary Scott), with the teenager Evalyn (Key Meersman). In their cabin, the third inhabitant dies, her guardian, they receive the visit of Jackson (Crahan Denton), and while they bury the dead man, in the surroundings there is the fugitive, Traver (Bernie Hamilton), observing. Traver, in a moment, approaches and meets Evalyn, who takes him to the cabin, gives food and even a weapon; he gives her some money. Try to leave Traver, but his boat is offended, the next morning, Evalyn confesses to Miller what happened, he finds the fugitive, tries to liquidate him, without success. Traver, with shotguns, takes control of the situation, the three end up living together for a moment in a reasonable manner, but always with Miller staying derogatory and alert to the visitor; in a moment, deflowers Evalyn. Jackson returns, now with the Reverend Fleetwood (Claudio Brook), and once everyone knows that a negro is wanted for an alleged rape, there is a lot of tension; only the Reverend believes in Traver's innocence, but the group wants to do what they consider fair, punish him. Miller acknowledges that he insulted Evalyn, she helps the black escape, and finally, despite an attack by Jackson, everyone leaves, leaving only Miller on the island.

In the proem of the film Buñuel's traditional narrative economy soon manifests, when we immediately see the fugitive black man, and just as quickly we will see the flashback of his head in which we get knowing that he escapes, no doubt, flees of something, we do not know for sure from what, or why, but he escapes and arrives at that island. Also, the presentation of Evalyn is eloquent, her first images show her unkempt, disheveled, face covered, almost nothing flashy; but the next image will be of her with her face uncovered, already hair tied, the camera approaches to land in an almost close-up of her smooth and young face, which denotes what she is, a young girl who is already becoming a woman. Soon his carnality invades the screen, with her contoured and bare leg that gives us a powerful reminder that it is master Buñuel who is behind everything, the teacher and his perennial weakness for female eroticism. Buñuel revels, as so many times, sexuality flows through the young woman, we see her partial nudity in the shower, a fully identifiable detail of the incorrigible Spanish genius. She is a woman child, mentally still a girl, but sexually mature, she is the motor and core of the film, awakening lust, to the point the white man rapes her, reinforcing the character of the film, in which there are neither good nor absolute bad individuals. The black man, unjustly accused of rape, is despised by the white man, who ironically is the one who has ended up committing that outrage. And it's vital the way he presents the characters, it's remarkable, with Miller, after some brusque attitudes with Evalyn, plays the guitar in a serene sequence without words; interestingly, we have Traver, who in turn plays the clarinet, singular parallel between the characters. Both are musicians, both were in the army, curious similarities with which it is reflected what director rightly asserts, the film does not land in a pure manichaeism, its characters do not end up being completely "aligned", they are not even completely good, neither completely bad, there are no good white man nor bad black one, nor vice versa.














Certainly they are not absolute antagonists, in the end Miller helps a limping Traver to go in the boat, even it is not Miller, but Jackson who tries to kill the diminished injured black. We do not partialize, it is a variety of the characteristic Buñuelian character, struggling between two sides or thoughts, and in this case without finishing to be beings nor completely despicable or condemnable, nor completely good. Buñuel thought that this lack of manichaeism, that relative ambivalence, was one of the reasons for the poor result of the film after its premiere, perhaps the spectators were confused because they did not have a figure in the story with which to be biased or fully identified. However, as the proper filmmaker said, the film has a lot of him, and it is true, because after making La fièvre monte à El Pao (1959), one of the less recognizable films of the director, now returns with force to capture his old and infallible film guidelines. It will delight us again with his figures, his obsessions, his topics, but now counting on a novelty, the inclusion of the topic of racism is completely new -it is a totally untold theme for the director-, almost inevitable in Hollywood those years, from where came screenwriter and producer, Hugo Butler and George Pepper, both escaping from that industry, even using modified names to avoid the persecution that in those days was occurring in US lands in the film field. This is how the singular mixture that is the picture is configured, because it is not, at all, an alimentary film, as they are commonly called the Mexican works of Buñuel, one can feel many of the director's unfailing cornerstones, but with the great novelty of the racist issue, which Buñuel certainly does not consider resolving, because he does not judge or pretend that we judge the protagonists. In this way the filmmaker shows again his bestiary, the tarantula, which returns from Susana (1951), the bees, (the entomologist that Buñuel carries inside looms), a rabbit; the animal element, so linked to the Buñuelian cinema throughout its works, returns to flow with vigor. Of course, the animal element par excellence of Buñuel, the hen, will appear after a certain period of absence, a group of hens is shown, adding to the collection now a raccoon, which kills one of the birds.

Another Buñuelian detail will also flow, the feet, the feet of the corpse of the third inhabitant of the cabin, something similar to what we saw in Nazarín (1959), brief but clear details, which for the connoisseur of the work of the director are recognizable indicators of the author. He also revels at her feet, more than once; yes, overflow his details, obsessions, feet, bestiary, sexuality, even some religion. The reverend baptizes Evalyn, in a ritual that ends up being burlesque, also returns Buñuel's particular magnifying glass to portray religion. A pleasant narrative element of the filmmaker becomes his camera, and its development, with a very enjoyable ease, goes through the exteriors where everything happens, but also inside at other times. The camera moves with precision, also with ease, with mobility and sobriety of a camera that almost does not stay still during the footage, providing dynamism and correct follow-up of the actions to visual narration. It is very appreciable to see, with its subtle but determined movements it crosses the well constituted framings, generating clean images of the páramo, of the arid exteriors of the Mexican island, in which the plants, branches, trees, end up constituting a beautiful natural frame for the visually best achieved sequences. The work of photography is also remarkable, with the clean and contrasting images captured, where the lights and shadows come together to concrete attractive and powerful frames. It begins to prefigure something that we would see later and more polished in his cinema, the young girl who becomes a woman and awakens masculine libido, as we would see in the immediately following Viridiana (1961). Buñuel knows that the moment of change is approaching, his Mexican stage reaches the sunset, and at this point of his life, he is already finishing up the main guidelines that will be the definitive form of his cinema, Buñuel is recovering sensations, in his second work in English. In the film a peculiar micro universe is generated, that is buñuelian, because in the original text they are only two personages, the fugitive black and an almost unidentified hunter who traces him; here, of course, we add the carnal Evalyn, Jackson and the reverend, representing religion, another inescapable subject for the director. Some controversy must have awakened the film for presenting, albeit with warmth, sympathy, or attraction felt by the girl, the white, to the man of color, an actress who certainly was not professional, and that some difficulty caused the director in the shooting. This is a very appreciable film, with which the filmmaker is reunited with topics that had been left a little aside in his then most recent films, is once again a very buñuelian film, which does not reach the mastery of his highest cinematographic peaks -no longer very distant to occur-, but it is a film with which the connoisseur and appreciator of the Spanish director cinema will enjoy.