Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

say about the consumer society and about the desperate need toredirect the sterile and dangerous course of our way of life. May 1968was a series of extraordinary moments, not the least of which wasseeing old surrealist slogans painted everywhere, slogans such as "Allpower to the imagination!" and "It is forbidden to forbid!"At this point, our work on the film had ground to a halt, and Ifound myself alone in Paris, like a curious but uneasy tourist. I didn'tknow what to do with myself. Tear gas made my eyes sting when Icrossed the boulevard St.-Michel. There were many things I justdidn't understand, like why the demonstrators were shouting "Mao!Mao!"~as if they really were demanding that France adopt a Maoistregime. Normally reasonable people lost their heads, and even LouisMalle, a very dear friend, became the leader of some action group.He spent his time organizing his troops for the final assault, andeven ordering my son Juan-Luis to shoot the minute the cops turnedthe corner. (Had he obeyed, he would have been the only victim ofthe guillotine during this revolution.) The city was filled with seriousdebate as well as complete confusion. Everyone was seeking his ownrevolution with only his own small lantern for a guide. I told myselfthat if this had been happening in Mexico, it wouldn't have lastedmore than two hours, and there would surely have been afew hundredcasualties to boot, which is exactly what happened, of course, inOctober on the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. And yet in Paris a weeklater, everything was back to normal, and the great, miraculouslybloodless, celebration was over.In addition to the slogans, May 1968 had other things in commonwith the surrealist movement-the same ideological themes,the same verve, the same schisms and romance with illusions, andthe same difficult choice between words and actions. Like me, thestudents talked a great deal but did very little; as Breton would havesaid, action had become just about as impossible as scandal. Buteven those who opted for terrorism used slogans similar to those ofthe 1920s-"The simplest surrealist gesture consists in going outinto the street, gun in hand, and taking pot shots at the crowd!"