A colored man with a charge of
raping a white woman ran away from town landed up on an island with a signboard
stating- ‘Trespassers on this island will be prosecuted to full extent of the
law’. Hiding himself on island he witnesses a rough and tough white man and a twelve
years old orphan girl living in cabins adjacent to each other. The drama is
pushed through tension between pedophile bigot, an innocent girl and racial
prejudice. The arrival of preacher adds the drama complex turn towards
climax.
Devoid of his trademark surreal
frames, this middle period and lesser known Bunuel film is not one of his best,
but it surely packed with enough stuff of taut thrill and Bunuelian dark humor.
His fan may witness his outsider stand against man’s euphemistic social animal
status in complex characters and their behavior. There are certain unexpected
developments between three characters and Bunuel brilliantly maintained his
satiric punch on racial and sexual hypocrisy giving us moments of dark, sensual
comedy. One may notice certain symbolic traits of Bunuel films here but not
much- his fetish for legs, the degenerative images of animals (hanged rabbit in
the kitchen) and religious satire (watch ‘baptism’ scene between the girl and
the preacher).
Recommended to all Bunuel fans/beginners.
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