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Los Olvidados (1950, Mex.)
(aka The Young and the Damned, and The Forgotten Ones)
In Luis Buñuel's nihilistic and grim cautionary
tale - one of the greatest, and harshest, socially-realistic films
ever made, filmed in stark black and white cinematography, and set
in the slums of Mexico City populated by gangs of street kids:
- a juvenile delinquent gang in Mexico City led by
amoral, older, violent reform school jail-escapee and miscreant
El Jaibo (Roberto Cobo) committed horrific, sadistic acts of
murderous brutality and petty crime, including the merciless robbery
and beating of blind street musician Don Carmelo (Miguel Inclán),
and the destruction of his drum
- in the next sequence set near a half-built, high-rise
building, Jaibo (in denim overalls) vengefully beat rival Julian
(Javier Amezcua) to death by striking him from behind in the head
with a large rock (hidden in a fake arm sling) and then stole his
money, in retaliation for Julian allegedly reporting him to police
and sending him to jail
- the film's most sympathetic main character was the
youngest gang member Pedro (Alfonso Mejía) in Jaibo's gang;
he was bribed (with some of Julian's stolen money) to not report
Jaibo's act of murder
- Pedro
prostituted himself to survive by accepting homosexually-pedophilic
advances; because he was the offspring of a rape, he was unloved
by his widowed mother (Estela Inda) with four children
- in a famous, unsettling surrealistic dream
sequence (in slow-motion and chiaroscuro), Pedro had visions of Julian's
blood-stained face and dead body under his bed (he had witnessed
the murder) with chicken feathers floating in the air, and then he
saw his unloving mother floating toward him with a large slab of
rotting raw meat as a lightning bolt struck (she normally deprived
him of food); suddenly, Jaibo reached from under the bed with his
long distended arm and snatched the meat, as the dream ended
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Pedro's Surrealistic Dream: He Envisioned Julian's
Dead Body Under His Bed, and His Mother with a Large Slab of
Raw Meat
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- other such disturbing imagery included the sensous,
fetishistic imagery of teenaged Meche (Alma Delia Fuentes), the
pretty younger sister of a gang member, who seductively poured
milk on her thighs to wash herself, and the sight of an abandoned
boy named Ojitos or Cute Little Eyes (Mário Ramírez)
suckling from a goat's teat in the market square
Some of the Film's Disturbing Imagery
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Meche's Milk-Covered Thighs
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Ojitos Suckling From Goat
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Bloody-Faced Pedro Looking Through Dirty Window
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- later (after a fist-fight with Jaibo), there was
a poignant image of a bloody-nosed, battered Pedro looking
through a dirty window
- to attempt to reform himself, Pedro took a
job as a blacksmith apprentice; there, he was wrongfully
set up by Jaibo for a theft crime (of an expensive knife); charged
with the crime, Pedro was sent to a rehabilitation
"farm school" center where he misbehaved and killed two
chickens
- to test Pedro's honesty, the school's principal
gave Pedro 50 pesos for an errand to purchase cigarettes; while
on the way to buy the cigarettes, the menacing Jaibo stole the
money, and the two boys got into a vicious fist-fight; although
the fight ended in a draw, Pedro loudly
announced that he had seen Jaibo kill Julian; the
revelation was heard by blind street musician Don Carmelo, who
reported it to police
- as a result, Jaibo retaliated by tracking down
and vengefully killing Pedro (during a brief, dark scene)
Pedro
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Jaibo's Murder of Pedro
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Pedro's Bloodied Corpse
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- Jaibo died when he attempted to escape and was shot
with two gunshots by the police as he left the murder scene
- (during his surrealistic death, a mangy stray dog ran toward the
camera and was superimposed over his face as he swooned and died)
Pedro's Body in Sack on Donkey, as Pedro's Mother Passed by
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Disposal of the Sack Down a Garbage-Covered Cliff
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- Pedro's body was found by Meche and her grandfather,
and to avoid the police, his corpse was gracelessly disposed
of; it was put in a sack and carried out of town on a donkey, to
be dumped down a garbage-covered cliff -- while Pedro's mother
passed in the street, ironically not knowing her lost son was dead
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In Mexico City, Ring-leader El Jaibo with Younger Gang
Members
Blind Street Musician Don Carmelo - Bloodied and Beaten
by Jaibo's Gang
(l to r): Jaibo Facing Rival Julian Before Murdering Him
Pedro with Gang Leader Jaibo
Jaibo's Theft of Knife at Blacksmith - Pedro's Place of
Work to Frame Pedro
Death of Jaibo Killed by Police
- with a Superimposed Stray Dog on His Face
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