Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

Congo. There were supposed to be a couple of hundred people involved,primarily anthropologists, geographers, and zoologists, who'dbe traveling from Dakar to Djibouti; and de Noailles felt I mightlike to make a documentary about the trip. Strict military disciplinewould prevail, he assured me. For example, there'd be no smokingwhile on the road. On the other hand, I was free to film whatever Iliked. No one could have asked for more, but somehow I couldn'tbring myself to accept; I just wasn't that interested in Africa. (I didspeak to Michel Leiris about it, and he went in my place, bringingback his L'Afiique fanth. )Up until 1932, when Aragon, Sadoul, Unik, and Maxime Alexandreleft the movement to join the Communist party, I remainedactive in the surrealist group. Although I was a Communist sympathizerand belonged to the Association of Writers and Artists forthe Revolution, I never joined the party, mostly because I didn'tlike long meetings. Impatient by nature, I couldn't stand all therules of order, the interminable debates, and the "cell" mentality.Breton felt the same way; like all surrealists, he also flirted with theparty because it represented a real possibility for revolution, but hegave up when he was asked, at his very first meeting, to compile afully documented report on the coal-mining industry in Italy.'A report on something I can understand, fine," he said sadly."But . . . coal?"During a meeting of foreign workers held in the suburbs of Parisat Montreuil-sous-Bois in 1932, I found myself in the same roomwith Casanellas, one of the supposed assassins of Prime MinisterDato. He'd fled to Russia, become a colonel in the Red Army, andwas now in Paris, secretly. The meeting was interminable and I wasvery bored, so I stood up to leave."If you go now," one of the speakers called to me, "and if Casanellasis arrested, we'll know that you're the traitor!"I quickly went back to my place and sat down. (Casanellas waslater killed in a motorcycle accident near Barcelona, before the beginningof the Civil War.)To be frank, it wasn't only the political dissension among the