It is one of my top 5 Bunuel films (The Andalusian Dog, Nazarin, The Exterminating Angel, and That Obscure Object of Desire are the others) among the 20 that I have viewed to date. Why?
On a very obvious level, it is a film about racism in USA. For Bunuel to have made the film in USA, is an achievement at a time when American films were beginning to make waves on this subject--Robert Mulligan's "To Kill a Mocking Bird" in 1962 (based on Harper Lee's seminal novel), Stanley Kramer's "The Defiant Ones" in 1958, etc. The Bunuel film comes chronologically between the two.
On a less obvious level, it is an interesting study of Bunuel and religion. Bunuel is famous for his works that mocked religion (except for "Nazarin" and "Robinson Crusoe" the latter probably in deference to author Daniel Defoe). The young one begins with an old man being buried without a cross on his grave nor a prayer, while a 12 or 14 year-old grand-daughter who hardly had any time with her dead mother in her life requests a Bible reading and the request is turned down. But towards the end of the film it is a priest who alone stands for the victory of truth and justice for all. At the end of the film it is the "atheist" who surprisingly does the strangest good deed in the film.
For those interested, "The Young One" is like a majority of Bunuel films based on a written work of someone else. This time the author is Peter Matthiessen, an American who is truly interesting for his religious interests. He was a Buddhist priest like Leonard Cohen, a CIA agent (according to IMDB trivia), and a US National Book Award winner, once for fiction and then again for non-fiction. Celebrated US film director Malick cast him as an actor in "Knight of Cups." Evidently the learned Malick admired Matthiessen, to offer him his first and only film acting experience.
The film features the song "Sinner man" (during the opening credits) sung by Leon Bibb. The song was popularized by Nina Simone but I first heard the version sung by the Indian singer Usha Uthup.
It's a Bunuel film that is essential viewing for any Bunuel admirer. Yet, surprisingly, few discuss this work of Bunuel.
On a very obvious level, it is a film about racism in USA. For Bunuel to have made the film in USA, is an achievement at a time when American films were beginning to make waves on this subject--Robert Mulligan's "To Kill a Mocking Bird" in 1962 (based on Harper Lee's seminal novel), Stanley Kramer's "The Defiant Ones" in 1958, etc. The Bunuel film comes chronologically between the two.
On a less obvious level, it is an interesting study of Bunuel and religion. Bunuel is famous for his works that mocked religion (except for "Nazarin" and "Robinson Crusoe" the latter probably in deference to author Daniel Defoe). The young one begins with an old man being buried without a cross on his grave nor a prayer, while a 12 or 14 year-old grand-daughter who hardly had any time with her dead mother in her life requests a Bible reading and the request is turned down. But towards the end of the film it is a priest who alone stands for the victory of truth and justice for all. At the end of the film it is the "atheist" who surprisingly does the strangest good deed in the film.
For those interested, "The Young One" is like a majority of Bunuel films based on a written work of someone else. This time the author is Peter Matthiessen, an American who is truly interesting for his religious interests. He was a Buddhist priest like Leonard Cohen, a CIA agent (according to IMDB trivia), and a US National Book Award winner, once for fiction and then again for non-fiction. Celebrated US film director Malick cast him as an actor in "Knight of Cups." Evidently the learned Malick admired Matthiessen, to offer him his first and only film acting experience.
The film features the song "Sinner man" (during the opening credits) sung by Leon Bibb. The song was popularized by Nina Simone but I first heard the version sung by the Indian singer Usha Uthup.
It's a Bunuel film that is essential viewing for any Bunuel admirer. Yet, surprisingly, few discuss this work of Bunuel.