User reviews

THE YOUNG ONE may not be one of Luis Buñuel's finest films, but it is certainly one of his most disturbing and provocative. This picture distinguishes itself from typical "race problem" movies in that Travers is not the familiar "ebony saint" character popularized by the likes of Sidney Poitier. Here Travers (played with intensity by Bernie Hamilton) does not take any mess from the racist Miller -- and lives to tell about it. Miller on the other hand is one of the most vile and despicable characters ever to grace the silver screen. Not only is Miller a bigot, but a pedophile too. When Miller is not spewing racial slurs at Traver, he's trying to bed Evalyn, the recently orphaned girl next door. Daring for the time, THE YOUNG ONE will provide Buñuel aficionados and those interested in the portrayal of African American men in the early 1960's with much fuel for discussion long after the films has been shown.

Leonard Maltin's *1/2 review of this bafflingly overlooked Bunuel gem – which, more by accident than design, has become one of my favorite film-maker's most-watched efforts – seems, thankfully, to be a minority opinion nowadays and, in fact, renowned critic Jonathan Rosenbaum (albeit contending elsewhere that this was the Spaniard's biggest critical and commercial disappointment) wrote about it in Steven Jay Schneider's "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"…when Bunuel's much more renowned THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (1962) is conspicuous by its absence therein! Incidentally, an almost equally obscure fate is shared by the film's immediate predecessor, REPUBLIC OF SIN (1959; which is still pretty hard to come by, though I did catch it once on late-night Italian TV): perhaps, this is because both films were squeezed in between two unexpectedly mature and highly personal works – NAZARIN (1959) and VIRIDIANA (1961)...

Anyway, THE YOUNG ONE is only the director's second English-language film, after ROBINSON CRUSOE (1952), and it also proved to be his last. Plot-wise, it's a hothouse melodrama (which has been considerably altered from the original two-hander short story source) quite typical of his low-budget Mexican output: a bigoted game warden (Zachary Scott) lives on a remote stretch of land – the film was shot in Mexico but the setting is clearly intended to be the American South – with his elderly alcoholic assistant (who has just died when the story opens) and the latter's sensual but naïve teenage grand-daughter (Key Meersman). This situation seems to please Scott, as he suddenly realizes that the girl is no longer a child – but their quiet life is unexpectedly turned upside down with the arrival of a black musician from the mainland (Bernie Hamilton), on the run after an older white woman accused him of rape!

Scott (whose character might very well represent the way his beleaguered but optimistic farmer from Jean Renoir's THE SOUTHERNER [1945] – which, incidentally had been adapted for the screen by the blacklisted co-writer of both ROBINSON CRUSOE and THE YOUNG ONE, Hugo Butler – would turn out under different circumstances!) is absent when Hamilton lands on the island. The latter strikes up a friendship with Meersman, while being embarrassed by her apparent lack of morals (which stacks the sympathy cards in his favor...though, on butting heads with Scott eventually, he loses no opportunity to address him as "white trash")! A battle of wills between the two soon manifests itself: Scott shoots holes in Hamilton's boat and then takes a pot shot at the man himself; the latter turns up enraged at Scott's cabin and manages to disarm him; the warden is thus forced to accept the black man into his house, but still refuses to eat on the same table with him!

Scott, meanwhile, continues to lust after Meersman – and, one night, he forces himself upon her and they sleep together (a potentially controversial sequence that the director handles in an admirably sensitive manner); the very next day, a preacher (Bunuel regular Claudio Brook) from the mainland comes to take the girl away even though Scott had been making such arrangements himself. Meersman is so innocent that she immediately confesses to the priest about her illicit liaison, which obviously shocks him (though, in typical Bunuel fashion, the latter Is himself a hypocrite who casually asks the girl to overturn his mattress because the black man had previously slept on it)! When Brook confronts Scott about the matter, the warden is willing to marry the girl; the priest, however, has in mind another form of compromise – knowing the malicious nature of the woman whom Hamilton is supposed to have assaulted, he believes the musician to be innocent of the crime. So, Brook asks Scott to let the black man go…though they still have to contend with the bigoted boatman (the warden's contact with the mainland) who will not think twice about executing Hamilton on the spot!

The intimate plot and swampy atmosphere are already compelling in themselves – but the whole, then, is elevated by Bunuel's distinctive handling (resulting in any number of irreverent touches along the way, but also a few violent ones, that often have the additional effect of enriching characterization). However, just as integral to the fabric of the film, is the catchy traditional gospel tune "Sinner Man" – even if, typically for Bunuel, it's only heard in the opening and closing moments of the movie; for the record, the charismatic Hamilton also indulges in a couple of jazz solos (to the girl's delight) during his tenure on the island – one of which, however, is (in perhaps the film's comic highlight) abruptly put to a literally explosive end by the jealous Scott! Incidentally, THE YOUNG ONE proved to be the first of just two films to feature the lovely Meersman and while I did get to watch the other one – Damiano Damiani's ARTURO'S ISLAND (1962) – simply because she was in it, the film itself was in no way as rewarding as Bunuel's had been (and continues to be with each successive viewing).

In fact, my previous three viewings of the film came via a slightly fuzzy Italian TV screening in its original English language but embedded with unremovable Italian subtitles. Therefore I'm thoroughly grateful to Lionsgate for releasing THE YOUNG ONE on DVD as part of their modest but very welcome 2-Disc "Luis Bunuel Collection" which also incorporates arguably the director's most inconsequential (if still not unentertaining) film, GRAN CASINO (1947). Incidentally, both titles come accompanied by an Audio Commentary and the one for THE YOUNG ONE is a joint and overly academic effort at analyzing the film's themes and textures. But if this makes for a rather heavy-going listening experience even for an avowed Bunuelian like myself, at least one gets another opportunity to look at celebrated cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa's sublime black-and-white images.

On the surface a simple little tale involving a middle aged white man, a young girl whose grandfather has just died and a black fugitive, later to be joined by a gung-ho racist and a priest. But simple, this is not. Beautifully photographed and leisurely told this is a tale of man's inhumanity to man, the corruption of innocence and the very nature of man. The young girl is central to the film and she gives a fantastic performance as she catches the eyes of all the men, yet retains her dignity throughout. It is not really true to consider her totally innocent from the start for she happily takes money for the 'stolen' items and intends to keep the cash for herself. What is more we assume she intends to buy dresses and make-up to make herself more beautiful. Tough though it may seem for her to become aware of such matters so young, we just have to accept it. She is reluctant for her relationship with Miller to become sexual, but not as unhappy as the priest and she has been promised more dresses and significantly a silver pistol, as she gleefully informs him after she survives his baptism. The racial affairs are extremely well portrayed, especially considering this is only 1960. The black character is a completely believable one and likable and seen to be liked by the young girl and eventually even by Miller. The priest (Is this the most sympathetic portrayal of a priest in a Bunuel film?) even offers to stand as witness at any trial. There will be no trial, the fugitive points out to him, showing he has just a little more grasp upon reality. One of the very many highlights in this, for me, was the young girl skipping happily towards the boat with the priest. She is wearing the high heels Miller has given her but she trips gayly along as if playing hopscotch and still, 'just a child'.

Some of the above comments have mentioned pedophilia in connection with this film. An important distinction has to be made here to prevent corruption of language. What the Miller character (Zachary Scott) does is 'take advantage of an innocent' from his position of strength as an older man, but that is not the same thing as pedophilia at all. The girl in question is 13 years old and sexually mature (an age at which it was FULLY LEGAL to get married in some southern states, Jerry Lee Lewis anyone?). This would make sexual relations between her and a younger man closer to her age fully legal and between her and the older man STATUTORY RAPE only if the laws in that state said so. It is WRONG, in the sense that the girl is in a weak position and gets taken advantage of. But that could happen at any age and age interval per se can never be the only measure of who took advantage of who (look at all the women married to men 20 to 30 years their senior), although it is a pretty safe bet. In fact towards the end of the movie, one of the likely resolutions suggested by Miller to the priest as a way to redeem himself is "what would happen if I married her?" And when Miller lets Bernie Hamilton leave the island he is doing this to redeem himself in his own eyes and possibly marry the 13 year old girl later!

That said, the main character is not the black fugitive (Bernie Hamilton) but the young girl (Kay Meersman, a Liv Tyler lookalike in an amazing performance). She has lived on a remote island for most of her life and knows very little about the racist realities of the American South (or anything else.) She is confronted with it head on, when a black clarinet-player fugitive named Travers, unjustly accused of raping a white woman escapes to her island to hide from a lynch mob. She becomes friendly with him and likes him as a person and can't understand the irrational animosity Miller (her temporary 'protector' whom she hates and who sleeps with her against her will)has for this man.

All this creates a whole bunch of complex tensions that Bunuel deals with in the most masterful way possible. You really believe in all these characters, they are multi-dimensional and historically and psychologically valid. Bunuel has been called cynical and cruel. That may be true but nevertheless quite a few of his films remain consummate works of art because they live up to Pascal's idea of showing man's 'greatness within wretchedness.' This is one of them. 'The Young One' is a MUST SEE film, if there ever was one. It makes all other films about racism and the corruption of innocence look like amateur hour.

I just got to see this film a few days ago and it is without a doubt a forgotten classic that like "The Defiant Ones" which preceded it and "To Kill A Mockingbird" which followed it deals with racism in the Jim Crow South.The eponymous young one is Evvie (Key Meersman) a teenage girl who's lived a quiet, isolated life on a coastal island with her grandfather. When the grandfather passes away she temporarily enters the custody of a cruel, bigoted caretaker named Miller (Zachary Scott) who is soon making advances towards her. Things get more complicated when an African American clarinet player named Traver (Bernie Hamilton) enters the picture fleeing a police manhunt that ensues when he's accused of raping a white woman. The screenplay by Hugo Butler, Luis Bunuel and Peter Matthiessen eschews stereotypes and the usual melodramatic clichés in favor of real, 3-dimensional characterizations and authentic human drama. Of course, I was familiar with Zachary Scott from earlier films where he famously played sophisticated heels. Here Scott does an excellent job with the difficult task of putting a human face on a despicable character. Likewise Bernie Hamilton, who's best known for a recurring role on the TV series Starsky and Hutch, is pitch-perfect as a musician who understands the forces arrayed against him but refuses to be a victim. I can't find much information about Key Meersman and it appears she only made a couple of films which is too bad because she was a gifted young actress. "The Young One" was a major work by a great director which sadly didn't get the respect it deserved from the establishment in 1960.

I have been looking for this film for some time, and it's everything I've waited for. For 1960, this film has some rather advanced themes. A black jazz musician named Traver winds up on an island used by a hunting resort. He has run away from a town after being accused of rape. The resort is kept by a middle-aged man named Miller and an older man who has just died leaving his granddaughter Evalyn (no older than 14). Traver finds the Miller's shack and takes some items. Miller wants to kill him, we assume for racial reasons. Miller is also in love with Evalyn, now in his care, and wants to make her a woman. This subplot is used through the eyes of two other characters who learn about Miller's relationship with Evalyn. You will notice quickly that one man, Jackson, wants to shoot and kill Traver for what others say he's done, and jokes with Miller about what he knows Miller's done. Statutory Rape is worse than rape, but to these people, black crimes are worse than white ones. Other reviewers seem not to pick up that Miller knows what he has done is wrong. He knows he is a worser man than Traver. After he finds out Traver left money for the stuff he stole, Miller no longer wants to kill him. Miller is not a racist man, any hatred for Traver that Miller has is spawned only from the fact that he's a stranger.

This film is the ultimate drifter film (under Tokyo Drifter)...like a Spaghetti Western or a Samaurai movie, it starts as the man drifts into this new environment and follows him till he leaves this environment. The film is book-ended with a great exterior scene with a compelling song playing about running away. Traver's name is short for Traveling Man, what better for a drifter?

As one of Bunuel's two English films, I wish Anchor Bay would pick this up and put it on DVD, or whoever distributed it if they still exist. Bunuel's attention to detail helps mix in some hidden undertones of prejudices. A clarinet called a 'Licorice Stick'. A priest offered a bed slept in by Traver asks how long Traver slept in it. "Only one night" the girl tells him. "It's okay, I'll just turn the mattress over." I'm frightened to even think what the character would have asked if Traver has stayed a week. Knowing Bunuel, the priest would probably say he'd just sleep on the floor after running to wash his hands.

Bunuel is no stranger to prejudices, see Exterminating Angel. As a window breaks, the host shrugs it off and says "probably a passing Jew". Generally he is so much harder on Catholics than anyone else, yet in this film, the priest is the only character that wasn't flawed. Obviously, I love this film, if you can find it, you must see it. The scenes between Traver and Miller have such style in their words, you'll like them both. Every exchange they have is so smooth, I can't believe that Bunuel didn't make more films in English.

RENT THIS FILM!!!!!!!

To viewers in 1960 this mostly seemed a rather turgid and unappealing tale of a bigot's reform, compromised by its trashy atmosphere. The key to the film, I believe, is Bunuel's admiration for the writing of the Marquis de Sade. The Zachary Scott character has a whole host of unexamined prejudices, not merely a racial one-- and when that one tumbles, his mind is liberated in all directions. The fact that this includes being "freed" from conventional sexual morality is the Sadean aspect of it-- as in A Clockwork Orange (but no other film that I can think of besides these two), true freedom is by no means an entirely positive or benevolent thing.

"The Young One" is a rare English-language enterprise for acclaimed director Luis Bunuel: a thoroughly perverse, unpleasant yet fascinating tale of corruption of innocence and racial prejudice. Bunuel, well-known as a provocateur, makes the black character (Bernie Hamilton, in a charismatic performance) the most positive one, and he takes advantage of Key Meersman's precocious, efortless eroticism (remember, this was made two years before Kubrick's "Lolita"). There is a great shot near the end of her playing hopscotch while wearing high heels which perfectly illustrates her duality - both a child and a woman. Terrific theme song, too. *** out of 4.

Let me preface this review by saying that i'm a huge fan of this director... Some of my very favorite films of all time are Bunuel films.

I will also say that I found the content of this film to be overly provocative to the point where I was offended. I think this was intentional, but it rubbed me the wrong way in this case, and it effected my perception of the movie.

In "The Young One" it seems like Bunuel was taking a crack at the "Rednecksploitation" genre. The film is lower budget than usual for Bunuel. Most of the acting is sub-par and the story is utterly trashy. It lacks the subtlety I expect from this director and it almost reminded my of some of Russ Meyer's early movies.. "Lorna" comes to mind. The feel is not exactly the same, but it's comparable except that "Lorna" is more entertaining and much less pretentious.

I think the subject matter is the problem here. This is a movie about dirt poor people. Nearly all Bunuels films are full of mockery and satire, but his films are more entertaining when he's poking fun at the rich or at least championing the underdogs on some level. In this case he turns his sarcastic eyes towards a bunch of pathetic and ignorant characters and somehow, the satire rings hollow. The mocking tone shouldn't even be present, but it is and it grates on you.

I give the movie a 6 because it was interesting and watchable. But it left a bad taste in my mouth. Also, the production values and script just don't match up to your expectations when going into a Bunuel movie. The dialog is bad and the acting is worse. If you want to see a good English Language Bunuel film, Watch "Robinson Crusoe". It's infinitely better than this one. Bunuel fans should probably see "The Young One" just to get a look at one of his more drastic departures.

Reading the reviews here, it's very obvious that the great master Buñuel has indeed brought about an exposé of your very own prejudice and blindness/ignorance/innocence; However you choose to define your misunderstanding of the true theme here. Of course you likely won't, because you simply don't see it. This film drives home the fact that all held prejudices, aside from the temporary instinctual caution of the unknown, are entirely learned behaviors and have a very definitive root cause. This is a mind blowing film!! Intelligent, beautiful and deep far beyond what most have understood.

At first, when I saw this film I didn't understand why Evvie's reaction to her 'night' with Miller was not more extreme, focused on and developed. I too was blinded by my own societal prejudices. After a little reflection I realized that there is actually a very precise reason for this. It is in fact ultra clear in the film, but evidentially not to many of the reviewers that Miller sleeping with Evvie is only a minor aspect to the plot here, and not nearly as big a deal as most brainwashed people think that it is. For one thing, to Buñuel an older man sleeping with a much younger girl is not all that uncommon, nor necessarily a large offence, especially when it's not a violent rape. In fact in both Spain and Mexico where Buñuel spent almost all of his life, 12 years old was the age of consent in both places as of 1960. Buñuel's 43 year old Father actually married the woman that became his Mother when she was only 18. Buñuel was born 2 years later. There is a point in this film to the older man, younger girl relationship, definitely! However it is not even nearly as big as most reviewers try to make it out to be. Sorry, but this is your very own learned prejudice exposed by Buñuel, as was my own.

This film is simply really about how all held prejudices (Racism or other.), are learned through ignorance and/or miscommunication alone. Racism itself is only a plot device here, and not even the true subject. Don't believe me about all that I've said here, watch the film again!! I dare you and challenge you to do so. Please, watch it again! When you see this film for exactly what it's meant to be and say, you will know!!! Without a doubt you will know!!!!! This is an unbelievably grand film that in fact is far too grand to boil down it's main theme to child abuse (You may as well be completely blind mentally.) or even racism. It is an exposé on the origin of any and all societal and personal prejudices, and then finally, atonement for such. The film is easily among the best pieces of art I have ever seen.

I will not explain the film in great depth, though it is ridiculously precise in it's delivery. It's up to you viewers to interpret great art like this for yourselves, for me to spoil it all for you in my view is going too far. I have given away the main theme at least, and thrown aside the ridiculous child abuse ideas of others; So if you pay attention and throw out your own prejudices, or at least temporarily put them aside, you too can easily see this film for the amazing monster that it truly is. Pay close attention and disregard your thoughts. Reflect after you watch the film closely, that is the time for thinking, after you watch!

10/10.

The Young One (1960) : Brief Review -

Luis Buñuel's staggering beauty on sensitive subjects like racism and bad touch. The Young One has to be one of the most beautiful and neglected films from the 60s due to its lower scale. It doesn't matter, though. The film is really high on content and sensitive topics like bad touch and racism, followed by innocence, guilt, and repentance. The film sees Miller, a man living on an island, who is accompanied by a teenage girl, Evie. She is not that beautiful because she hasn't been clean enough, but the moment she has some of that cleaning done and her hair done, she seems like a grown-up girl. Unable to understand the bad touch and a horrible thing like raape, Evie has been made a woman overnight by Miller. They are joined by a colored man, Traver, who is accused of raping a white woman. He spends a night at the same place with Evie but does not touch her, and they become good friends. Amidst this, a reverend and Jackson arrive on the island, and they learn about Traver's presence. Tension builds as Jackson and Miller are after Traver to kill him, and the reverend learns about Miller's wrongdoing to Evie. What will be the outcome of this? You'll get some sensible answers in the end, and believe me, everything ends on a beautiful note. It's difficult to handle sensitive topics like racism and raape, but Luis Buñuel has done a fantastic job here. The film has that tenderness as well as brutality and also showcases human nature at its best and worst, both. The performances are top-notch by Zachary Scott and Bernie Hamilton. Key Meersman's sudden transformation from a dirty tramp to a beautiful, gorgeous lady was really breathtaking. This one is actually nice, and I don't really understand why it didn't get the deserving high for so many years. Let's give it that now.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The non-conscious performances, buñuel it seems that I want that way but they do not let him and do what they want and only the film makes sense looking at the beautiful girl who is the only thing beautiful.

Young One, The (1960)

**** (out of 4)

An innocent black man (Bernie Hamilton) is accused of rape by a white woman so he runs off into the swamps of Louisiana. Once there he meets a young (11-13 year oldish) white girl (Key Meersman) and her racist guardian (Zachary Scott) who is also having sex with her. I've seen quite a few Luis Bunuel films now and earlier I said I wished he would do a normal film and tell a normal story without all the dreams and surreal aspects. Well, this is a film like that and I must say it's subject matter is still quite graphic and hard to watch even forty-six years after being released. I have a hard time imagining this thing got released in America due to its sexual and racist nature but apparently it did as the IMDb lists an American title for the film. It's also worth noting that this pre-dates To Kill a Mockingbird but this film here goes a lot further than that film even dreamed. The "N" word is constantly thrown around and unlike the blaxploitation films that would follow a decade later or the earlier Sidney Poitier films, that word has never had a more damaging saying than what's on display here. I'm not exactly sure what the director felt about race but every time that word is said it's used in such a graphic and evil way that you can't help but want to wash your ears out. Race is an issue throughout the film but thankfully Bunuel never lets his message get preachy. He lets the viewer see the hypocrisy and that's enough. The sexual aspect is also quite shocking since there are a couple love scenes between the older guardian and the younger girl. Bunuel also doesn't shy away from showing the girl taking a shower, showing shots of her legs and even a shot of her breasts. No nudity is used and in some ways this makes it seem all the more dirty because of the innocence lost. The performances are all remarkable and even in their most evil ways, the actors make you care for them. Scott steals the film as the racist redneck who's also having sex with the young girl. Just watch the actors eyes and you'll see him thinking, which is something a lot of actors don't do. The thinking of whether or not he should kill the black man and if it's right for him to be sleeping with this girl. The three actors are always looking at one another and you can see that they are thinking about their actions and what could follow. I was rather shocked to see this film get a * 1/2 in Leonard Maltin's movie guide but I guess this film would be rather hard to watch for most people. It doesn't shy away from its subject matter and Bunuel hits the viewer with punches from all sides. The film shows evil and bad people but he also shows the good in such people so it's rather refreshing to see a film that deals with race and isn't one sided towards any point of view.

Buñuel's second and final English language film (his first being Robinson Crusoe in 1954) is a racial issues movie, albeit quite a bit more complex than your average Stanley Kramer type of stuff. Traver (Bernie Hamilton), running from a false rape accusation, lands his boat on an island somewhere off the coast of a Southern state. That island is inhabited by only two people, although a third has only recently passed away. Evalyn (Key Meersman) is an uneducated teenager. Her grandfather is the recently deceased. Her grandfather's partner (they cultivate honey on the island) is Miller (Zachary Scott, the star of Jean Renoir's The Southerner). Miller, an older man, has designs on young Evalyn. He is also a vile racist, and delights in treating Traver cruelly. The film is very good in most regards. The script is fine, the performances (save that of Claudio Brook, a Mexican actor who delivers his English lines very awkwardly; either that, or they were dubbed badly by someone else) are wonderful. My only complaint is that the movie's denouement is a little weak. It's a gripping picture most of the way through, and it's a tad disappointing that it doesn't build to all that much. Still, a very good and underrated flick. Please note that Lionsgate's new Buñuel box set, which also includes Gran Casino, his first Mexican film, has the two films mislabeled. I popped in Gran Casino, only to get The Young One. I've confirmed that disc labeled The Young One does have Gran Casino on it. So if you want one from Netflix and not the other, keep this in mind.

It is one of my top 5 Bunuel films (The Andalusian Dog, Nazarin, The Exterminating Angel, and That Obscure Object of Desire are the others) among the 20 that I have viewed to date. Why?

On a very obvious level, it is a film about racism in USA. For Bunuel to have made the film in USA, is an achievement at a time when American films were beginning to make waves on this subject--Robert Mulligan's "To Kill a Mocking Bird" in 1962 (based on Harper Lee's seminal novel), Stanley Kramer's "The Defiant Ones" in 1958, etc. The Bunuel film comes chronologically between the two.

On a less obvious level, it is an interesting study of Bunuel and religion. Bunuel is famous for his works that mocked religion (except for "Nazarin" and "Robinson Crusoe" the latter probably in deference to author Daniel Defoe). The young one begins with an old man being buried without a cross on his grave nor a prayer, while a 12 or 14 year-old grand-daughter who hardly had any time with her dead mother in her life requests a Bible reading and the request is turned down. But towards the end of the film it is a priest who alone stands for the victory of truth and justice for all. At the end of the film it is the "atheist" who surprisingly does the strangest good deed in the film.

For those interested, "The Young One" is like a majority of Bunuel films based on a written work of someone else. This time the author is Peter Matthiessen, an American who is truly interesting for his religious interests. He was a Buddhist priest like Leonard Cohen, a CIA agent (according to IMDB trivia), and a US National Book Award winner, once for fiction and then again for non-fiction. Celebrated US film director Malick cast him as an actor in "Knight of Cups." Evidently the learned Malick admired Matthiessen, to offer him his first and only film acting experience.

The film features the song "Sinner man" (during the opening credits) sung by Leon Bibb. The song was popularized by Nina Simone but I first heard the version sung by the Indian singer Usha Uthup.

It's a Bunuel film that is essential viewing for any Bunuel admirer. Yet, surprisingly, few discuss this work of Bunuel.

A black man on the run from being accused of rape washes up on an island occupied by some strange Bunuel characters.

Bunuel had taken to being controversial in more subtle ways at this time. Here the strangeness does not involve people's eyes being sliced open (Un Chien Andalou) or toes licked (L'Age d'Or) but in the fact that the island's natives are a middle-aged man and a 13-year old girl (or so, her age isn't given) he has some creepy intentions towards.

There is at times a salaciousness to Bunuel's gaze, in the shots of the girl's thighs, or one where she adjusts a towel around her chest. Hopefully this experience didn't have anything to do with the young girl deciding not to become an actress.

The film can be quite confronting: about child abuse, bitter truths about racism. In 1960, the civil rights movement was just about to take off, and race relations were in a bad place in America, so Bunuel's film must have been quite powerful at the time. In 2015 it no longer feels revolutionary in terms of its take on race relations, but its depiction of child abuse is still shocking. It feels like one of Bunuel's more focused films, telling a simple story with vivid characters and a powerful message.

This film is available for sale on Half.com "A black New Orleans jazz musician flees to a remote coastal island in order to escape the wrath of a lynch mob. While hiding out on the island, he befriends a young white girl, much to the distrust of the island's sheriff, who is secretly involved with the girl. Once a search party from the mainland arrives to escort the musician back, the delicate veneer of trust which existed between the musician and the sheriff is shattered, and the sheriff must confront the truths about his crime, and more importantly, his own depraved nature." (from the posting of half.com) This film is in black and white.

"Cela S'Appelle L'Aurore" (1955) :the priest ,in the luxury of the bourgeois house ,can do nothing for the poor proletarian who has lost house ,wife and job......

"La Mort En Ce Jardin"(1956) :in the first part,the priests sing "Alleluia" in their churches when the dictatorship kills outside.....Later the heroes lost in the jungle will light a fire ,with the pages of the Bible!

But It was "Nazarin"(1958) which must be considered Bunuel 's greatest achievement as far as this subject is concerned.The whole movie deals with the life and times of a priest ,at odds with his hierarchy ,who tries to live like a saint and who will only get a pineapple (sexual symbol) at the end of his pitiful adventure.

"The Young One" continued in that vein.Although the priest is absent in the first hour,it's him who finally invents right and wrong as a doctrinaire religion imposes them on (more or less) innocent characters. The scene when the girl wants to bury grandpa with a bottle whiskey has something of all the old ancient pagan religions.Isn't it better than a cross?

My favorite scene remains that of the baptism,the girl's so-called golden key.It's almost a comical scene as the priest washes the body in the water and takes away the young one's sin.

It' a golden key to a rotten world:the black man understood that a long time ago ,he does not expect anything anymore from the white justice: this is not the part of a black man you could see in Hollywoodian flicks in 1960,no Uncle Tom and no Sidney Poitier style either..

"The young one' is a good movie,but I would not rate it as high as "Viridiana" or "Nazarin" the two greatest Bunuel achievements of the 1955-1965 era.