Las Hurdes (1933)

A surrealistic documentary portrait of the region of Las Hurdes, a remote region of Spain where civilisation has barely developed, showing how the local peasants try to survive without even the most basic utilities and skills.

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writers:

Luis Buñuel (commentary), Luis Buñuel

Stars:

Abel Jacquin, Alexandre O'Neill

Cast

Credited cast:
Abel Jacquin	...	(voice)
Alexandre O'Neill	...	(voice)

Storyline

In this documentary short by director Luis Buñuel he travels to Las Hurdes, a remote region of Spain which was connected to the outside world only in 1922 with the completion of a road. The residents of the area - spread across several villages - lives in poverty and in isolation from the outside world. They survive mostly on a diet of potatoes and beans with meat available only a few days a week. In fact, they eat goat meat only when one of the animals dies. Inbreeding results in a disproportionately large number of people with mental disabilities. The title refers to the fact that the residents did not know how to make bread.

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Plot Keywords:

spain | food | village | river | beehive | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Short

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Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

French

Release Date:

December 1933 (Spain)

Also Known As:

As Hurdes: Terra Sem Pão

Filming Locations:

Las Hurdes, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ramón Acín

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Last film directed solely by Luis Buñuel until Gran Casino (1947), with the exception of compilation films he made while working at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, such as El Vaticano de Pio XII (1940).

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Connections

Featured in Regarding Buñuel (2000)

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Soundtracks

Fourth Symphony
(uncredited)
Written by Johannes Brahms

User Reviews

Bread and water

"Las Hurdes" may be the Surrealist documentary par excellence, a tendentious film discourse about poverty shot in Las Hurdes Altas, a human settlement out of a nightmare, among steep precipices, in an almost deserted landscape. Even based on Maurice Legendre's 1927 anthropological text "Las Jurdes: A Study of Human Geography", Buñuel forced into the harsh situations his own obsessions with insects and donkeys that would appall today any society for the protection of animals. Done at a time when Spain was among the nine countries with the highest level of economic development, by contrast this work shows the state of misery of a community marginalized by landowners, forgotten by authorities, and living in the cruelest of conditions. The cynic commentary makes the facts more striking, but the music score by Darius Milhaud is an obtrusive element. Although banned by the authorities, it was re-released with a Spanish narration read by actor Francisco Rabal.