Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Galina Had Luis Bunuel ever made a bad movie? I've seen fourteen his films and every one of them is great, simply fantastic, starting with the most famous short film, 17 minutes long "Un chien andalou" (1929) and ending with his swan song, "That obscure object of desire" (1977). Bunuel made films in France, his native Spain, and in Mexico where he had to immigrate after Franco came to power in Spain. Each of his films is uniquely brilliant but all of them have in common his magic touch no matter what period of his life they belong."El Bruto" is no exception and it is a strong combination of a surreal melodrama and political film which could also be viewed as a modern retelling of the Frankenstein's story. Pedro "El Bruto" is a young tough slaughterhouse laborer who is exploited by a tyrannical landowner who may be his father and to whom he is very loyal. He is eager to help Don Andres to evict the poor tenants form their houses that belong to Don Andres. Pedro is a simple man who was not used to think a lot and analyze the motivations of the others but he will learn and his eyes will open. Pedro will become a not so obscure object of desire of two women, passionate and strong-willed Paloma, the young wife of Don Andres and the kind and gentle Meche, whose father Pedro accidentally kills while doing the job for Don Andres. As is supposed to be in the melodrama, one of the women is scorned and hell hath no fury as she does and the inevitable ending is coming. The very last shot of the movie with its enigmatic irony is pure Bunuel - only he would finish the film the way he did.

dbdumonteil "El Bruto" might be Andrés' s son and like in Frankenstein.....When a director is as strong as Bunuel (whose filmography is huge and brilliant),some of his works may seem lacklustre by association. But further acquaintance shows this: all -except the obsession with religion- the Master's permanent features are here: the old man who eats candies is akin to the grandpa who rapes his granddaughter in "Cela S'Appelle l'Aurore " ;the young girl with the madonna face ,Meche,and the bitch ,the sensual beautiful Paloma (Katy Jurado:you should see her cut her flowers )we've already met them( In " Los OLvidados",Pedro's bitchy mother became a madonna in his dreams) and we would meet them again all along Bunuel's canon(in "La Mort En CE Jardin" :Michèle Girardon and Simone Signoret);in "Cet Obscur Objet du Desir" they would become one.The bourgeoisie's selfishness is also present.Perhaps not among Bunuel's essential,but none of his fans would like to miss it.

MartinHafer I was very surprised when I watched this movie how "normal" it seemed compared to all the other Luis Buñuel directed movies I have seen. In fact, it seems pretty normal compared to most any other film. While the plot is a bit unusual, none of the typical Buñuel touches are present--it's just a straight-forward story of a dim-witted man who is manipulated by an evil old man--and eventually, this manipulation has some very unintended consequences. No, there isn't a touch of Surrealism or Absurdism in the plot--just a pretty well-made Mexican movie starring Pedro Armendarez. So, if you are NOT disappointed by the normalness of the film, it is still a pretty good film--not particularly memorable, but still good. The acting and writing are all just fine.

kyle_furr This was the first film I've seen of Luis Bunuel and this movie stars Pedro Armendariz as a strong guy with a lot of muscle but not a lot of brains. He his hired by a landlord to do anything to get the tenants to move out and he winds up killing an old man who was their leader. Katy Jurado is the landlord's wife and they have an affair. Pedro is chased by some of the men with weapons and hides out in the apartment of the girl who's father he killed but she doesn't know that. There isn't much else to the plot but there are several murders at the end but you can find out for yourself who is murdered. Pedro has worked with John Ford before and Katy Jurado was in High Noon and One Eyed Jacks.