From the original review: While not the most impenetrable of Luis Buñuel’s films, The Milky Way (1969) may be his most perplexing for first-time Buñuel viewers. The premise is very simple: Two disreputable beggars (Paul Frenkeur and Laurent Terzieff) — who are on a religious pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain — have bizarre encounters and adventures of a twisted, religious nature along the way. That’s really all there is to it. Think of the two men as Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in The Road to Heresy and you’re close to the spirit of the whole thing. Indeed, the two heroes/observers in Buñuel’s film are about as unlikely Christian pilgrims as Crosby and Hope would have been. The point is that Buñuel’s “attack” on Christianity — more specifically, Catholicism — is far less brutal than the one he made 40 years earlier with L’Age d’Or, the ending of which is still shocking even to a crusty agnostic like me. Milky Way is a much more playful film from Buñuel in his best “surrealism can be fun” mode.
Full review here
Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present The Milky Way Friday, Nov. 29, at 8 p.m. at Phil Mechanic Studios, 109 Roberts St., River Arts District (upstairs in the Railroad Library). Info: 273-3332, www.ashevillecourtyard.com
One of my favorite Bunuel films.