A long-standing joke among film nerds revolves around Luis Buñuel The Exterminating Angel. It’s been used in sitcoms and referenced in songs.
There’s a rather dull individual scratching their head, angrily asking “Why? Why can’t they leave the house? It makes no sense!”
It reminds me of a guy I used to work with. He was getting into audiobooks and asked for recommendations. A ‘sci-fi’ fan, his favorite movie was Star Wars and he wanted some science fiction. I was telling him about various books and writers, and I came to Harlan Ellison and his best short story, “Jefty is Five”. I explained the story and his question was similar.
“Why did he stay at age five?”
“He just did. Why doesn’t matter.”
“There has to be a reason! Why didn’t he get any older?!?”
Metaphor is wasted on blockheads.
So, why? Why couldn’t those people leave the house in The Exterminating Angel?
Luis Buñuel is known as the great surrealist of cinema. His work isn’t as shocking today as it was when he was alive. Not since we’ve had Lynch and Jodorowsky and Waters.
In fact, shock value is dead. We’ve seen it all. Blasphemy has gotten tedious, sex is demystified, and gore is simply boring. Despite what the independent writer edgelords would have you believe. One of the few truly shocking things anymore is how stupid so many movies and shows are.
Luis Buñuel worked with Dali. He smashed barriers. His film, Viridiana, with scenes that mocked the Last Supper, was denounced and banned in Spain. It won the Palme d’Or award at Cannes in 1961. His next film, The Exterminating Angel, is perhaps his best.
A group of wealthy aristocrats gather for a dinner party. As the gathering approached, the hired help were compelled to leave. Even at the risk of their jobs, they inexplicably could not stay in the manor.
The dinner is a success, but when it’s time to leave the guests simply don’t. It seems natural to them that they go to sleep in the living room. The next day it begins to dawn on them. They cannot leave.
There is no barrier. No locked door, no secret force field. No logical reason why they cannot simply walk out the door.
Days pass. Despair begins to overtake the party. Rage, savagery, suicide. It’s a living nightmare. They are trapped inside their own cocoon of privilege.
Police gather outside. They can’t enter the building. They don’t know why, but no one can bring themselves to walk through the doorway.
Inside, food runs out. The water turns foul. A man dies. They find a cache of opiate drugs and greedily imbibe. Luckily a bear and some sheep are wandering around and the people slaughter and kill one of them.
Why indeed.
All films are open to interpretation. This one seems obvious to me. The Exterminating Angel is a parable about the invisible but impenetrable social-economic barrier that divides the classes. We, the average people, cannot enter the sanctity of privilege. The ruling class are imprisoned by their own pampered excesses. Even while their souls are eroding from the empty lives they are living.
A final scene where a line of sheep are running into a church may seem like something out of a cartoon in the current climate, but 1962 audiences were scandalized. It’s still a potent depiction of hapless followers.
There’s a handful of foreign classics every movie fan needs to see. The Seventh Seal. Wings of Desire. La Dolce Vita. the 400 Blows. Seven Samurai. Grand Illusion. Breathless. Aguirre, the Wrath of God. The Marriage of Maria Braun. There are more, but this is a good start. The Exterminating Angel belongs on the list.
I urge people to give these movies a chance. It’s not like doing tedious homework. They are beautiful, entertaining, inspiring, important. You will be a richer person if you watch them.
Written by Mark Sieber
There’s a rather dull individual scratching their head, angrily asking “Why? Why can’t they leave the house? It makes no sense!”
It reminds me of a guy I used to work with. He was getting into audiobooks and asked for recommendations. A ‘sci-fi’ fan, his favorite movie was Star Wars and he wanted some science fiction. I was telling him about various books and writers, and I came to Harlan Ellison and his best short story, “Jefty is Five”. I explained the story and his question was similar.“Why did he stay at age five?”
“He just did. Why doesn’t matter.”
“There has to be a reason! Why didn’t he get any older?!?”
Metaphor is wasted on blockheads.
So, why? Why couldn’t those people leave the house in The Exterminating Angel?
Luis Buñuel is known as the great surrealist of cinema. His work isn’t as shocking today as it was when he was alive. Not since we’ve had Lynch and Jodorowsky and Waters.
In fact, shock value is dead. We’ve seen it all. Blasphemy has gotten tedious, sex is demystified, and gore is simply boring. Despite what the independent writer edgelords would have you believe. One of the few truly shocking things anymore is how stupid so many movies and shows are.
Luis Buñuel worked with Dali. He smashed barriers. His film, Viridiana, with scenes that mocked the Last Supper, was denounced and banned in Spain. It won the Palme d’Or award at Cannes in 1961. His next film, The Exterminating Angel, is perhaps his best.
A group of wealthy aristocrats gather for a dinner party. As the gathering approached, the hired help were compelled to leave. Even at the risk of their jobs, they inexplicably could not stay in the manor.
The dinner is a success, but when it’s time to leave the guests simply don’t. It seems natural to them that they go to sleep in the living room. The next day it begins to dawn on them. They cannot leave.
There is no barrier. No locked door, no secret force field. No logical reason why they cannot simply walk out the door.
Days pass. Despair begins to overtake the party. Rage, savagery, suicide. It’s a living nightmare. They are trapped inside their own cocoon of privilege.
Police gather outside. They can’t enter the building. They don’t know why, but no one can bring themselves to walk through the doorway.
Inside, food runs out. The water turns foul. A man dies. They find a cache of opiate drugs and greedily imbibe. Luckily a bear and some sheep are wandering around and the people slaughter and kill one of them.
Why indeed.
All films are open to interpretation. This one seems obvious to me. The Exterminating Angel is a parable about the invisible but impenetrable social-economic barrier that divides the classes. We, the average people, cannot enter the sanctity of privilege. The ruling class are imprisoned by their own pampered excesses. Even while their souls are eroding from the empty lives they are living.
A final scene where a line of sheep are running into a church may seem like something out of a cartoon in the current climate, but 1962 audiences were scandalized. It’s still a potent depiction of hapless followers.
There’s a handful of foreign classics every movie fan needs to see. The Seventh Seal. Wings of Desire. La Dolce Vita. the 400 Blows. Seven Samurai. Grand Illusion. Breathless. Aguirre, the Wrath of God. The Marriage of Maria Braun. There are more, but this is a good start. The Exterminating Angel belongs on the list.
I urge people to give these movies a chance. It’s not like doing tedious homework. They are beautiful, entertaining, inspiring, important. You will be a richer person if you watch them.
Written by Mark Sieber
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