Gina Reviews

Fleeing a repressive regime, a group of misfits from an Amazonian diamond field make their way through the jungle. Led by Marchal, a prospector who has escaped from jail, the travelers include prostitute Signoret, priest Piccoli, miner Vanel, and his deaf-mute daughter, Girardon. As the journey grows more difficult, the travelers begin to shed their individual preoccupations and become better people. Even the priest stops spouting dogma and tears up his prayer book to light a fire. Then they stumble across a crashed airliner, and while looting the plane for food and money they revert to their old selves. Vanel goes crazy and sees himself as the wrath of God, shooting down the others until he himself is shot and killed by Marchal. Along with Girardon, the only other survivor, Marchal finds a canoe and the pair paddle down the river to safety. One of Bunuel's most accessible films, DEATH IN THE GARDEN is superficially a conventional thriller (one that owes much to THE WAGES OF FEAR), but Bunuel's surrealist world view manages to peek through. In one scene, a large snake Marchal has killed for food begins to move as it is carried by ants. A fascinating film produced in 1956 but not shown in the US until 1961. (In French; English, subtitles.)