Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles – Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas (2018)

Directed by: Salvador Simo | 80 minutes | animation, drama | Original voice cast: Jorge Usón, Fernando Ramos, Luis Enrique de Tomás, Cyril Corral, Pepa Gracia, Rachel Lascar, Gabriel Latorre, Philipp Nowicki, Fermín Núñez

‘Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles’ (‘Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas’) is a Spanish animated film about an important period in the life of the famous Spanish-Mexican filmmaker Luis Buñuel. The film is based on the graphic novel by Fermín Solís. Buñuel’s film ‘L’âge d’or’ (1930) has been scathingly received by the French public, banned by the church and the law, with the result that no producer wants to finance his films anymore. Buñuel is in trouble both financially and artistically and decides – after his anarchist friend Ramon Acín offers him the money he won in a lottery – to make a film about the Las Hurdes region of Spain.

Ramon and Luis leave for Northern Spain together in preparation for the documentary about this poorest region of Spain, an area that even Spaniards themselves know little about. However, the two friends appear to have conflicting motives for making the film. Acín sees in the project an opportunity to expose the poor conditions in which people live and thus help them, and although Buñuel at first appears to have the same goal in mind, his actions show that he prefers to provoke than does otherwise. Opinions also differ on how to spend the budget – for example, Buñuel spends a quarter of the money on the rental of a car right at the start.

Buñuel brings cameraman Eli Lotar and writer Pierre Unik to Spain and the four men get to work. The first images in the area are of a wedding feast, where newlyweds traditionally have to pull off the head of a rooster. Buñuel’s determination to get a close-up shot of a decapitated rooster leads to what you can’t help but see as animal cruelty. That doesn’t really generate much sympathy for the filmmaker, but that’s not the goal of ‘Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles’ either. A well-known concept for the professional and personal development of the prominent cinematographer, thanks to fragments from his youth, his difficult relationship with his father, his failed collaboration with Dalí and the influence of his dreams on his work.

Once in Las Hurdes we get an even better picture of how Buñuel worked and how he upset so many people. It makes for interesting conversation: how bad is it that the filmmaker wanted to film reality, but thereby staged certain things? After all, film has always been nothing but illusion and it is not the case that the things he captured on film never happened. Of course his sadism towards animals is undisputed and it is easy to imagine why even decades after his death people in that area can still be angry about the way in which Buñuel has portrayed them. But Buñuel did achieve what Acín wanted to achieve with ‘Las Hurdes’: the region was seen and heard and living conditions improved.

‘Buñuel in the Labyrinth of Turtles’ is told with the right mix of facts, humor and drama. The movie is only 80 minutes long, which gives you plenty of time to watch ‘Las Hurdes’ afterward, assuming you haven’t seen this movie that’s been on the “1001 movies to watch before you die” list for ages. have seen. Because what is also special about this animation film is that we occasionally look through the animated camera and then see fragments from ‘Las Hurdes’. The contrast with the animations is great, but it works great. It gives ‘Buñuel in the Labyrinth of Turtles’ an extra dimension. Insanely captivating, beautifully animated and provided with a nuance that many filmmakers can still enjoy.