As far as inspirations for children’s films go, Luis Bunuel is…not the first person one would think of. The surrealist filmmaker, who famously teamed up with fellow creator Salvador Dali for the…eye-opening Un Chien Andalou, is the subject of the animated film Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles.
In real life, Buñuel, struggling to find himself as a filmmaker following various projects including Un Chien Andalou, travels to a remote region of Spain (so remote it had just recently had a road constructed in it) and learns how to make bread (the subtitle “Land Without Bread” alludes to this). The region Buñuel inhabits is poor and makes money taking in orphaned children.
The film switches from animated tales of the filmmaker interacting with the people in the village as well as the real-life documentary footage of the filmmaker’s process. We the viewer are never 100% sure of Buñuel’s intentions. Does he truly care about these poor villagers? Is he there to mock them or to truly document their lives? The film leaves it up to the viewer. Luis Buñuel may be an odd choice for the central character in an animated film. Yet Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles is an odd, engaging film. This would be a unique option for film studies educators, especially those on a high school level. Aud, P.