Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

Mexico (1946-1961) 20 3On the other hand, I was very fond of Subida al czelo (MexicanBus Ride), which I made in 195 I with a scenario based on someadventures that had actually happened to my friend and producer,the poet Altolaguirre, while he was on a bus trip. The film wasshot in Guerrero, which even today can boast of more violencethan just about any other state in Mexico. Despite the fact that ourbus model was embarrassingly unrealistic as it lurched ~ainfull~ upthe mountainside, the shoot itself went quickly, even though wedid have the usual series of contretemps, like the production assistantbeing held hostage in the Hotel Las Palmeras in Acapulcobecause of unpaid bills. And there was the scene where a little girlwho'd been fatally bitten by a snake is buried in a cemetery wherea traveling movie theatre has been put up. It was a long scene, andwe'd allowed three nights for it, but the union insisted we do it intwo hours, so everything had to be rearranged in order to shoot itall in the same take. (In general, my experience in Mexico forcedme to become a high-speed worker, a skill I often regret havingmastered.)After Mexican Bus Ride, my next film released was El (This StrangePassion), which was made in 1952 after Robinson Crusoe. Irdnically,there's absolutely nothing Mexican about El; it's simply the portraitof a paranoiac, who, like a poet, is born, not made. Afterwards, heincreasingly perceives reality according to his obsession, until everythingin his life revolves around it. Suppose, for instance, that awoman plays a short phrase on the piano and her paranoid husbandis immediately convinced that it's a signal to her lover who's waitingsomewhere outside, in the street. . . .El contains many authentic details taken from daily life, but italso has a great deal of invention. In the beginning, for instance,during the washing of the feet in the church, the paranoiac spies hisvictim immediately, like a falcon spies the dove. This blinding intuitionmay be fiction, but no one can tell me it's not based in somesense on a reality. In any case, the movie was shown at Cannes, forsome inexplicable reason, during a screening in honor of the veteransof foreign wars, who, as you can imagine, were outraged. In general,