NAZARIN (1958) *** Luis Buñuel was an atheist and an iconoclast, but also a terribly complex man to the point that any explanation is an over-simplification. It should not then come as a surprise that his meditation on the spiritualism of Christianity is a profound, and sympathetic, one. Buñuel perceives (over-simplification alert) the central conflict as being not good vs. evil, but the Christian ethos vs. man, Christianity representing an unnatural but desirable alternative to our existing social orders in a manner in some ways invoking-and so mirroring and contradicting-Nietzsche (there is no Good News, the good news is that we don't need any Ubermann) . This conflict is then manifest in the conflict between those existing in accordance with true Christian mores and the baser models with whom they share the planet. Luis had a number of long friendships with (rebel) clerics, and matters of dogma are celebrated rather than attacked. The institution of church does not fare as well: mainstream clerics are not represented as evil (certainly a possibility that occurred to Luis given his upbringing), but instead passive, or more accurately not strong enough to embrace the ethos of empowered passivity. And of course it's not a throwaway line early on when the protagonist priest says something linking the anti-materialist messages of Christianity and communism. Jesus Christ has been widely quoted as saying such things himself. Francisco Rabal's priest may seem a bit gruff for us today, his sympathetic nature not touchie-feelie enough or openly empathetic, or assertive enough for liberation theologians, but it's a powerful portrayal and it seems that there's always a bit of disagreement about what Jesus would do as well. Probably not make this movie, but that's why it was also nice to have Buñuel.
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