The Milky Way Reviews

The most overtly religious film in Luis Bunuel's oeuvre, THE MILKY WAY is an allegorical journey through the history of Catholicism that follows a pair of travelers--the somewhat pious Pierre (Paul Frankeur) and the younger, more skeptical Jean (Laurent Terzieff)--as they undertake a pilgrimage across Spain to the tomb of Saint James. En route, they meet any number of religious figures, including a caped, God-like figure (Alain Cuny) with a midget, the Virgin Mary (Edith Scob), Jesus (Bernard Verley), a bishop (Jean-Claude Carriere, Bunuel's screenwriting collaborator), a sadistic Marquis (Michel Piccoli), a prostitute (Delphine Seyrig), and even the Devil (Pierre Clementi). This comical film will make any viewer question his beliefs--from religious fanatic to rabid atheist. While it may seem strange that Bunuel, a lifetime surrealist and professed atheist, would produce such a work, the filmmaker remarked in his autobiography, My Last Sigh, that THE MILKY WAY "evokes the search for truth, as well as the necessity of abandoning it as soon as you've found it." If that doesn't shed some light on Bunuel's intent, then perhaps his most famously ambiguous statement will: "Thank God I'm an atheist."