THE MILKY WAY Movie Review

Two tramps on a religious pilgrimage encounter all manner of startlingly surrealistic sights, incidents, and adventures. As they wander through this series of dreamlike, often hilarious sketches, they discuss and debate Catholic religious doctrine even while the shape of the film itself suggests a somewhat unconventional reinterpretation of the Trinity. (Having an intimate knowledge of that doctrine is necessary to fully understand the film; but, ironically, those who have that knowledge are the ones most likely to be offended.) The Milky Way remains one of the most controversial movies by the great Spanish surrealist Luis Buñuel. While some regard it as a reverential film in the guise of a satire, others do not agree. Its power to disturb and enrage those with relatively inflexible religious beliefs should not be taken lightly; at a museum screening in Detroit in the late 1970s, an offended viewer attacked the movie projector as the film was in progress, shouting about blasphemy and demanding to be arrested. As quite a few in the audience later noted, The Milky Way’s provoking that manner of response was a sight that Buñuel himself—an old, irascible anarchist—might well have enjoyed.

NEXT STOP … Nazarin, Viridiana, Simon of the Desert

1968 102m/C FR Laurent Terzieff, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Alain Cuny, Bernard Verley, Michel Piccoli, Edith Scob; D: Luis Bunuel; W: Jean-Claude Carriere. VHS, LV XVC FCT, IME