Nazarín

"Nazarin" directed by Luis Bunuel presents an extraordinary view of religion in Mexico. As written by the director and Julio Alejandro, his notable collaborator, this was a film that put Mexican cinema in the international map after receiving the Grand Prix in Cannes that year. It's a disturbing film because Mr. Bunuel delves deep into what's wrong with the church.

Nazarin, by all reckoning, is a saint. This young priest is seen living a life of poverty in a seedy pension of a city. He doesn't have enough for himself, but he doesn't mind parting with a coin when a beggar appears by his window asking for help. At the same time, he takes into his small room a prostitute that has been hurt in a fight with another woman. Andara, the woman repays his kindness by burning the room and the whole building! Nazarin is seen taking to the countryside begging for food. Andara and Beatriz, two prostitutes from his old town follow him. Nazarin's life parallels that of Jesus. In fact, this saintly figure makes a case for humility.

Of course,Mr. Bunuel had no religion in mind when he and Mr. Alejandro took it upon themselves to create this film. It's ironic how Spain welcomed him after this film was released because they saw it as showing Christian qualities, when in reality, this is an acerbic satire on the catholic church and its ministers.

Francisco Rabal, the Spanish actor, makes a wonderful Nazarin. This was one of his best roles. Mr. Rabal worked extensively in his native country, but also in Mexico and Argentina. Rita Macedo, as Andara, is also excellent. Marga Lopez also makes a valuable contribution with her portrayal of Beatriz.

A great film by one of the cinema's master film makers: Luis Bunuel.

In his films about morality and the church such as Viridiana, director Luis Bunuel has attacked the self-deception of those whose "pure" Christianity comes into conflict with the demands of society. In the masterful 1958 film Nazarin, Father Nazario (Francisco Rabal), a Catholic Priest, tries to imitate Christ by living a life of self-denial. He surrounds himself with prostitutes, beggars, thieves, and dwarfs and freely shares his meager resources with others but finds that his actions only produce distressing results. Based on the novel by Benito Perez Galdos, the film is about a gentle but sanctimonious priest in rural Mexico in 1900.

Naively unconcerned with his own best interests, he provides refuge to Andara (Rita Macedo), a prostitute who has just killed another street girl in a knife fight. When he also befriends Andara's sister Beatriz (Marga Lopez), suspicions arise among his superiors about his behavior. Forced to leave the church, he remains steadfast in his beliefs, going on the road dressed as a peasant and begging for alms. The sister's soon join him as disciples in his saintly pilgrimage after a dying girl regains her health as a result of his prayers. Nazarin's best intentions prove fruitless, however. He agrees to work on a road crew for food but in so doing creates a labor dispute that leads to violence. His guidance is again rejected when he volunteers to help a woman dying of the plague, asking her to picture what Heaven looks like. In spite of the priest's equation of sexual desire with sin, all she wants is one more visit from her husband and lover. Arrested and thrown into prison with Andara, Nazarin's life becomes more and more Christ-like in its agony. He is beaten by a thug and begins to question his faith when he is unable to forgive his assailant.

Is Father Nazario an impractical fool trying to live by unrealistic ideals, or is he a modern-day Christ, sentenced by a soulless world to endure a similar fate? Bunuel sends us mixed messages. He attacks the hypocrisy of the church for not living up to the teachings of Christ and seems to admire the priest for his rebellion against accepted social norms. Yet ultimately Nazario is just a sad and forlorn human being. Condemned by the church as a "nonconforming rebel", scorned by a society that does not understand his passion, he carries his "crown of thorns" to an uncertain end, perhaps realizing at last that his self-satisfied idealism did not include understanding the true nature of his humanity.

Nazarin is some kind of saint,he wants to live in life exactly how Christ taught man to do.But it's too late:now the Catholic Church is in the hands of a wealthy bourgeoisie,the bishops live in luxury and don't give a damn about the poor and the sick.That's why our hero can't follow the way his hierarchy asks him to follow.So he divests himself of everything,and on his way to purity,he's joined by some kind of Mary Magdelene and a woman who's attracted by him sexually (the scene between this girl and her fiancé is telling).In Spain (it was the late fifties),they thought Nazarin was a Christian movie!Knowing Luis Bunuel,it was downright incongruous:all his work is anticlerical to a fault.Comparing Nazarin and his "holy women" to Jesus is a nonsense.On Nazarin's way,only brambles and couch grass grow.His attempt at helping working men on the road is a failure,he's chased out as a strike-breaker.All his words amount to nothing.At the end of the journey,he's arrested and offered a pineapple by a woman(Bunuelian sexual symbol). Thanks to "Nazarin" ,Bunuel was allowed to return to Spain (where the censors had not got a clue ) and to direct "Viridiana".

Octavio Paz, Mexican poet, writer, and diplomat, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990, said about "Nazarin": "Nazarin follows the great tradition of mad Spaniards originated by Cervantes. His madness consists in taking seriously great ideas and trying to live accordingly". A humble and spiritual priest (Francisco Rabal in a wonderful performance) attempts to live by the principles of Christianity but is cast out of his church for helping a local prostitute by giving her a shelter after she had committed a murder. Nazarin wanders the country roads of the turn of the 20th-century Mexico, offering help to poor and begging for food. His two followers, a murderous prostitute Andara and her sister Beatriz who is a failed suicide desperately searching for love, consider him saint but it does not prevent him from hatred and humiliation from both the church and the people he meets on the road. He ends up beaten in prison and begins to question his faith for not be able to forgive his attacker.

Bunuel tells the story in a manner of a Christian parable masterfully and uniquely combining admiration and irony for the main character and strong criticism of formal religion and hypocrisy. The film is simple and profound as well as beautiful, ironic, and heartbreaking.

I consider Bunuel one of the best filmmakers ever. I've seen twenty of his films and they all belong to the different periods of his life but they have in common his magic touch, the masterful combination of gritty realism and surrealism, his curiosity, his inquisitive mind, his sense of humor, and his dark and shining fantasies. With great pleasure I am adding little seen and almost unknown but amazingly candid and touching surrealistic tragic-comedy "Nazarin" to the list of my favorite films.

A non-denominational journeyman priest wanders across the sins , plagues and poverty of the lower classes and secular world . Along the way he experiencies a number of thunderous episodes that have relation with the Gospels .At the beginning he lives at an old hostel along with a few prostitutes who rob him some belongings . Later on , Nazarin undertakes a religious journey followed by the problematic and epileptic Beatriz : Marga Lopez , and, by Andara : Rita Macedo who formerly murdered a woman . Nazarin efforts to follow Christ's teachings, he then learns the thought-provoking lessons about he can get charity as well as give it .

Here Buñuel never ridicules religion, but he carries out a sour critical to limited religious aspects, and he observes how irrelevant most of his work is to the sinners Nazarin tangles with. This is a scathing indictment of Christianity , well written and directed by the great filmmaker Buñuel. Drama, religion, and documentary-alike account of whores, waifs, beggars, dwarf, street urchins and poor people in the blocks, streets and outdoors from Mexico country. "Nazarin" is a true Buñuel hero well represented by Francisco Rabal who gives a very good acting as Nazarin , a priest who gathers together a little group of disciples wandering throughout the Mexican desert as a cross between JesusChrist and Don Quixote. It results to be a perfect vehicle for Francisco Rabal as the defrocked reverend attempting to relive Christ's life. The Spanish actor Francisco Rabal is well accompanied by an enjoyable Mexican cast such as : Marga López, Rita Macedo, Ignacio López Tarso, Murayama and Rosanda Monteros who acted in The Magnificent Seven.

It contains an evocative and atmospheric cinematography in black and white, shot in Churubasco studios and exteriors filmed in Mexican landscapes by the expert cameraman Gabriel Figueroa , Indio Fernandez's regular photographer . The motion picture was competently directed by Luis Buñuel , at his grimmest and usual style. It was directed in his Mexican period, once he exiled from Spain to France and later on, Mexico . The first one he made in Mexico was "Gran Casino" with the singer idol Jorge Negrete, following "The great madcap or El gran calavera" with Fernando Soler. Then he was hired by producer Oscar Dancigers to make the successful "The forgotten ones or Los olvidados". Buñuel went on directing a in Mexico several films, some of them with same producer, such as : "The devil and the flesh, Mexican bus ride, The brute, Robinson Crusoe, A woman without love, Wuthering heighs, Archibald Cruz's criminal life , Evil Eden, The young one, Angel Exterminator, Simon of the desert" . Exiled Buñuel followed a French period including titles as "Diary of a chambermaid, Belle de Jour, The milky way, Discreet charm of Bourgeoise, The phantom of liberty". Of course, this great Spanish actor also shot films in Spain, such as : "Hurdes tierra sin pan", "Tristana", "Viridiana" and his last one "Obscure object of desire". Rating : 7/10. Better than average. Indispensable and essential watching for Luis Buñuel aficionados.