La montée au ciel

Okay Mexican era Bunuel about a young man traveling by bus to his dying mother's hometown where she has a will on record. If he doesn't recover that will and have his mother put her thumbprint on it, his oldest brother, a very greedy man, will have the legal right to divide the property amongst the family. Most of the film is about the bus ride and the adventures the people on the bus have. There are some very nice scenes and touches, but it doesn't rank as one of Bunuel's strongest. It does, however, contain probably the best surreal sequence of any of his Mexican films. I haven't seen them all, so maybe I should just say a more prominent surreal sequence than his more famous Mexican films, i.e., Los Olvidados, El, or Nazarin (not counting anything he made after he returned to Mexico from Spain after Viridiana, i.e., The Exterminating Angel and Simon of the Desert, both of which are more "pure" surrealism).

Subida al cielo is a messy little story probably about the distractions and small miracles happening on everybody's way to heaven. It is short and seems simple, but there are sometimes strange things happening: has anybody the strength to go straight? If one does really go straight, one probably do not even have dreams. Dreams, wishful thinking and miracles like the improbable solution (by a little girl) for getting the bus out of the river with an ox instead of a tractor and the small miracle of the two vehicles that for no apparent reason suddenly CAN pass each other on the narrow path after a short meeting. Furthermore, Buñuel incorporates a few modest but funny dream sequences to emphasize that people (secretly) can think of other things, while they are on their certain way to heaven (the righteous path?). The English title 'Mexican Bus Ride' applies very well I guess: the whole is kind of low profile (probably also low budget :)

The acting is ok, but I never really got into the story, because the editing isn't good and there is no convincing mood to get into, although Buñuel uses some music in this movie. Miniature cars and sets make it fun to watch, but also do not convince. The movie feels more like an exercise than as a message from the heart, but I would like to see it again some time. 5/10

As noted by others, this is not top notch Bunuel but it has much charm and it is as if the director is more interested in the Mexicans and their way of life than in bringing out any clever cinema tricks. Having said that the fantasy/dream sequence is excellent and the apple peel that surely represents the umbilical cord both amusing and disturbing at the same time. For it is true to say that through the course of the terrifying bus journey, central to the film, we do have the elements of birth, marriage and death. Plus, animals, music, singing and seduction. Somebody has described the bus driver as 'silly' but it occurs to me that although he seems ready to give up his bus driving upon almost any pretext, he is one of the only travellers who is not dishonest. We have the aspiring politician, not sure about the hen man, there's the scheming and beautiful sex interest, and even our hero desperate to help his dying mother get a will written , is more than a little driven by self interest. So although a wonderfully sunny and joyful film, with that good feeling that all are at one, it is far from as simple as that and just beneath the surface, surely that wily old Bunuel is having more than a little dig

IMHO,a minor work in Bunuel's extraordinary filmography.The beginning is quite surprising:it recalls "Las Hurdes" with its documentary side and its voice over.But of course,it's not as tragic as the 1932 opus.

There's a theme Bunuel would develop (with great results ): the impossibility to do what you want to do: the heroes of "le Charme Discret de La Bourgeoisie " trying to get a good meal; or in "Cet Obscur Objet Du Desir" ,the woman who never wants to have sex with the hero.Here the young man's wedding night is postponed .But he will find solace (or is it a dream?) in Raquel's arms.

A lot of bizarre things happen on the bus,the birth and the death of a child,notably, and surrealism is not far way when apple peelings become some kind of umbilical cord.

Even with the economic restrictions of his Mexican exile, Luis Buñuel proved he could turn an otherwise unassuming project into a signature film of unique wit and style. The simple story follows an unlucky young bridegroom on a long, fantastic journey by bus across the country to visit his ailing mother. With his mind distracted by thoughts of her death, he encounters on his trip a multitude of life, while the bus and its passengers careen from one diversion to another. Every encounter is underscored by the director's distinctive brand of deadpan absurdity: a peg-legged gentleman stuck in a mud puddle; a man selling mail-order chickens; a detour for a birthday fiesta thrown by the driver's mother. There's even a dream sequence loaded with the same, crazy Freudian symbolism left over from Buñuel's earlier collaborations with Salvador Dali. In its own quiet way the film has to be considered an underrated classic, directed with a surplus of humor and humanity by an acknowledged master.